Heirs of a lost world
by DatXeno91
Summary: Time's up. The world is about to die. But what if two friends managed to get a second chance? Transformed into something they know nothing about, will our heroes be able to live a life worth to be lived? Or will they fall under the weight of their past and future? With unknown abilities and a weird new world, who can you trust, other than yourself?
1. Chapter 0: Our last day

-It's the third of june 2017, known also as 'the end'. Not that I blame them for calling it like this in the slightest. I mean, our volcanoes started erupting with incredible pressure in the last few months, earthquakes are becoming the norm and tsunamis are all over the place. We are basically fucked.

Anyway, why am I writing this down, you ask? Simple enough. We are dying. Nothing will change this. Our world is meant to die before the end of this day, tomorrow at best. I'm leaving this message in hopes that whoever finds this will not do our same mistakes.

But, let's go with order. After all, I only have one shot at this. It all started with the nuclear wastes we polluted our world with. First it was the fish changing. We should have noticed that warning. Yet, we didn't. We were stupid and stubborn, not willing to realize our own idiocy.

Next was the grass. Everything was slowly wilting and crippling. Only when it started to affect humans we panicked. It was finally clear. We condemned ourselves to death, and if not that, maybe something even worse.

It's the third of June 2017. The end of humanity. My name is Daniel and I am warning you. To whoever reads this: don't mistake this for simply a story, or a fantasy. I am real, you are real. And this is happening. Our mistakes shall not ever be forgotten: we will remain in history for you to learn. Learn from our death, don't let it be in vain.-

A green room, with a bookshelf, a bed with orange sheets and a wardrobe in it. At the desk, sat a person. His hair is a chestnut brown, the same as his eyes. Thick build, with long legs and just a little fat on his belly. He's wearing a pair of blue jeans, dark blue shoes and a white T-shirt under his grey jacket. All in all, a plain young man. But if you looked closely you would have seen the stains on the book in front of him, more and more drops fell onto the last words he wrote, followed by a slight whimper.

A bitter laugh escaped Daniel's lips as he looked up from his desk and out of a window to his left. People were nowhere to be seen, not a single bird flying by, but that was to be expected: the pollution affected the smaller things at first.

A deep, cracked voice is heard: "So, this is it. My final day. Not what I expected, but definitely hasn't been the worst. That was a week ago. After all, I didn't ask to be this resistant to poisons. Who would have known that they would have left me all alone in this hellhole. Oh, well, I suppose I will see them soon enough. Mom, dad, sis. Give me just a couple more hours, and we'll meet again."

A slight shake was felt in the wooden floor. 'An earthquake. Nothing new, if not a bit annoying.' Daniel thought, heading to the door at the far wall from him. Walking in the kitchen of his house, he sat down on one of the couches situated on the right side of the room. Putting one hand in his pocket, he fished out a folded piece of paper. It's a picture, which represents him, in company of a man with black hair, same brown eyes as him and a few inches taller. His face shows some dents caused from his age, but looks still fairly young. On the other side of Daniel is a woman with mostly brown hair, although with some blonde tints here and there. Her eyes are green, with still a young spark in them. She's shorter than Daniel by half a head, and her visage shows the damage of time more than her husband, while leaving untouched her own charm. Finally, in Daniel's arms sits a little girl, around four years old, looking almost the same as her big brother, but without the glasses, and seems much more energetic than he is. The most peculiar thing about the picture, although everyone seeming happy, is in the eyes of the older son, which to a trained eye would show a quite wise person, despite his age and a sad tint, hidden behind a content look.

"Only now I realize all the stupid stuff I did. Just when it's too late to actually fix any of this. Actually, now that I think about it, I can do something. I never said goodbye to him."

Having said that, Daniel put a hand in his pocket and whipped out a white smartphone, and then proceeded to compose a number and wait.

After a couple of seconds, a slightly crackling voice is heard on the other line:

" _Hello, Daniel? Why are you calling me now at all times?"_

"Hey, Alex. Sorry to bother your moping around, I was just doing that too. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you …that I'm sorry."

" _What about? I don't understand._ "

"You see, after what happened, we were both sad, and I know that, but it still isn't an excuse for being so distant. I should have called you sooner, and make sure you're ok, but I didn't, and that was very selfish of me. So…I'm sorry."

" _Ok, I get it now, but don't you worry about that. We're both going trough some hard stuff and I know it's hard, but at least we still have each other, right?"_

"Well, thanks for being there. Would you look at that, I wanted to call so I could make it up to you, and yet, I'm feeling even more guilty."

" _As I said, don't worry. I forgive you, You're my best friend after all."_

"Thanks, man. I needed to hear that more than I knew. If you need me in the next hours, I'm here for you."

" _That's good to know. But…could we talk some more? I'm feeling really alone here."_

"Of course, buddy. If you want I can come over, how about it?"

" _That would be nice. How about we meet halfway between our places?"_

"Good idea, see you there."

" _Ok, see you soon."_

And so, Daniel picked himself off the couch and started heading towards Alex's house. While walking he reminded himself how the town had changed from when he was younger. The blue sky became grey, from all the noxious gases into the atmosphere, the people walking around became very few, and wouldn't stay in one place for long, most shops closed lately, since so many people died, and couldn't get any money, or the owners died. The cars had been banned in the general panic, even tough some still used them, not giving a single fuck about the law, which could as well stopped existing, since they were all bound to die nonetheless. After a couple of minutes of walking, Daniel came across a crossroad, and there he saw, running towards him, his best friend Alex. Daniel took a second to look at his friend, and remember the good times they spent together. Even tough Alex was two years younger than Daniel, he was very mature and understanding, for being only 13 years old. They had known each other for 4 years, their parents knowing each other, they spent a good deal of time together, and seemingly they had a lot of interests in common, like music, videogames, and an absolute loathing for school. And while they sometimes had different points of view, they understood and cared about each other nonetheless. Alex was 4 ft. 9 inches tall, reaching only at Daniel's upper chest, him being 6 ft. 2 inches tall. He has chestnut eyes like Daniel, and hair of a lighter shade, with a blonde streak in the front and a thin but athletic build. His face is very juvenile, even tough it is noticeable that he had cried recently. He was wearing a yellow shirt under a grey open hoodie, caramel colored pants and white sneakers.

Once close enough, Daniel kneeled a little to embrace the one that became family in that hell he called a world. After a couple seconds, the two step away from each other, and Alex said:

"Well, we're here. Now what?"

"Let's walk."

And with that, the two started wandering around aimlessly, sharing tidbits of conversation here end there, but mostly staying silent and enjoying the company of each other. After a while, they ended up in the outskirts of town, and sat down on the remainings of a building that obliviously collapsed thanks to the earthquakes. They just stayed there, looking at the sunset until the first stars started dotting the sky. In that moment Daniel said:

"Our last sunset. At least I'm glad we could stay with each other."

"So do I, man. So do I."*Yawn* "Well, I definitely am tired. But I don't want to go home. Can we just stay here, together?"

"Of course, buddy. Come here."

And with that, Alex leaned back on the pillar where Daniel was sitting.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Said Alex, looking at his friend, who was staring at the few visible stars.

"I don't think so. You can go to sleep, if you want to, but I just can't bring myself to do so."

"You know what? I'll stay awake for a bit more too."

After around fifteen minutes of stargazing, Alex broke the silence again:

"Look, Daniel! A falling star! Fast, make a wish!"

Daniel moved his gaze to where Alex was pointing, and true enough, there was a falling star. Daniel wasn't much one to believe in wishes, but he decided to humor his friend.

"Alright then. I wish we had a new chance. I wish we could bee somewhere where we could actually live a life worth to be remembered. That good enough?"

"That was alright, but I really don't think it is going to work."

"Heh. Worth a shot, right? And then, hoping a little wouldn't hurt. C'mon, It's late. Let's go to sleep."

Having said that, that the two huddled together and closed their eyes. Just as he was going to fall asleep, Daniel thought: 'I just wish to be able to protect who I have left'. And just like that, he fell asleep. Unaware of what was happening around them.

A couple hours later, the greatest shake since ever was felt, and fissures started crawling trough the ground. Eventually one reached the debris where our friends were sleeping, but something had changed: no one was there.


	2. Chapter 1: New horizons

Daniel's P.O.V.

It's dark.

I can't see anything.

I can't hear anything.

Is this how it feels like to be dead?

It sucks. There's absolutely nothing here, and yet I can feel some things. I can feel that it's warm here, really warm. I feel some slight shakes all around me, and... yes! I can hear something!

Seems like I'm in some sort of cave, if the sound of flowing lava is any indication. It's either that or a new volcano has surfaced close to us. US?! Alex! I've got to get up and find him!

Grrrrrr….. Come on! I can't feel my body! Nothing at all, like I wouldn't have one anymore! AM I GOING CRAZY!?

Ok, ok. Calm down, deep breaths…

Good, I'm somewhat better now. First thing first, eyes. Try to open your eyes.

Arrrrggh! I can't even feel them, let alone open them! And th- wait. I can hear some voices. They're kind of muffled, but I can make out what they're saying:

"Are the newbies ready yet? The Diamonds are getting impatient, you know."

That was a gruff voice, but definitely a woman. Probably a very big build to have such a voice. And there's someone else:

"Don't stress me! You know as well as me that these things require time! If the incubation is requiring more then we expected, what am I supposed to do?"

This one was quite squealing, but another woman. Quite smaller build than the last one, if I'm not fucking it up.

Here goes Big: "I don't care! Speed it up somehow! It's your job to respect the deadlines! The harvest is in two days, I hope the new gems will be ready, or I'll have to shatter you."

And Small again: "Fine, fine. I'll see what I can do, but stop shouting."

Now I can hear two sets of steps: a heavy set and an almost imperceptible one.

Well, they're gone. Let's see what I've got from this: seems like some group called "the diamonds" need some gems, or something, and they need them within two days time for something called the "harvest", but I didn't get the part with the shattering. I guess I would know more if I could manage to GET. THE. HELL. OUT.

SOME TIME LATER~~~~~~~~~

Well, still stuck, but I can feel I'm pretty close to breaking out. Just one last push…

POP

Annnd I fell on my face, of course. Just my luck. Oh, well, let's see where am I.

Not what I was expecting at all, that's for damn sure. I seem to be in some sort of canyon. Probably an artificial one, judging from all the machines around, the wiring and all the people seemingly working here. There's also a lava fall nearby, guess that's what made that noise. What strikes the eye, tough, is the incredible multitude of holes in the walls, like a fuckload of tombs, and now that I notice, there's also one where I was a while ago. What is this place? Some sort of…. Nope, can't think of anything even close to this. Giving myself a once over, I find that most of my clothes are the same, except for my jacket, which became long enough to reach my knees and became completely black, same as my shoes, which became boots. While it's certainly weird, I'm definitely looking badass now, and I also just noticed that I have some pretty visible muscles on me. Not ripping, but it's quite nice.

Ok, that was good and all, but back to my main goals: finding Alex and maybe some answers about this place. After all, he's bound to be here, somewhere. I mean, we were together, so whoever put me there must have taken Alex too.

I could go to the right side of the canyon: it seems pretty bustling with people, if the sound of voices is any indication; but then they could take me for an intruder, and throw me out, or way worse. Guess I'll go towards left, and keep my fingers crossed.

I've been walking here for a while, and the only things I've found are silence, more person-shaped holes and these weird machines: they look like tripods, but have a drill between their legs, a purplish crystal on top and are fucking EVERYWHERE!

Ok, seems like I've hit the end of this side. Guess the only thing left to do is to turn around and try with the lively side of this ravine, or whatever you want to call it.

I'm close to where I started, but I had to stop. Why, you ask? Well, there's someone over there, and guess what? It's Small! Well, both figuratively and literally, since she's pretty much of a midget. From here I guess she's like, what 4 ft. and half, five feet at most? The odd thing is that her skin is completely green! You got it! Fucking GREEN! No, calm down, I'm freaking out again. Calm down!

I'm fine now. But she doesn't seem like it. Actually, it looks like she's panicking over something. Shall I listen in? I shall.

"-where could that gem be gone? It hadn't emerged yet, when I checked on it last time! How could it happen? Yellow Diamond will crush my gem for this! I've got to find it! If she knows that Lazarus 2 has escaped, we'll all be at her mercy! If she has any that is! I did say that project Lazarus was stupid, but..."

And on that note she just stormed off. From what I understand, this woman was working on this 'project Lazarus' and one of the experiments, I guess? Has disappeared. Why do I have a hunch that this matters with me?

If I'm right, and I hope I am, for the sake of the plan, there must be at least another Lazarus, and with some luck, that might be Alex. I'm hoping quite a lot, but that's the best I have.

While following this damned lady, I had to hide many times to avoid being spotted by either her, or other people passing by, or gems, as they seem to call themselves. Call me weird, but I don't think they are humans. I mean, each and every one of them seems to have some sort of gemstone stuck in some part of their body, some the forehead, others the chest and so on and forth. One had a ruby In their fucking eye goddammit! And don't get me started on the colors. I never saw so much color in one place! It's like a fucking rainbow in here!

From the way they interacted with each other, I noticed a certain hierarchy going on here: there's these people called pearls, which seem to be the lowest class, nothing more than servants (definitely keeping this one in mind for later); then there's the peridots, the woman I'm following seems to be one of them, they're technicians and general working class; then there's the quartzes, tall, bulky, soldiers I suppose, that are quite full of themselves and treat others like shit. Over them seems to be these Diamonds, with their courts. I would suppose they're nobles of sorts.

And while I took my time explaining to you this, we've gotten somewhere. It's a big door, supposedly to grant access also to the quartzes. Nonetheless, the peridot I've followed is opening this door, and I'm trying to understand how to.

Seems there's some code, but I couldn't understand it, so I did the last thing I could think of: I ran like hell was on my heels and jumped in just as the door was closing. I fell right on top of the peridot, which got stunned by the blow, and I took the chance to look around me to assess the situation: fortunately we seemed the only ones to be in the room, so I rose the peridot to her feet by the hem of her suit and slammed her face into the wall. She was out in one hit, luckily, so I put her onto one of the chairs in the rooms and used my belt to keep her in place. Next thing, I went to one of the computers in the room to try and find something about this place, like a map, some recent logs, or anything that could show me where the hell was Alex, if he was here at all.

When suddenly, problem! This computer seemed to require a password, and even then it was in a language I couldn't make heads nor tails out of. So of course, I did the next best thing: I waited for the peridot to wake up, so I could convince her to do it for me. Not best plan, but I really didn't have any better idea.

I'm starting to get seriously worried. She doesn't seem to be waking up, and has also stopped breathing! What if- no wait, she's waking up. What. The. Fuck.

She's looking around, and she just spotted me.

"What do you want from me? Let me go already you idiot! Do you have any idea who am I? A- Mmmffff! Mmffff!"

Sorry, but I had to close her mouth, she just talks too damn much!

"Let's get one thing clear: I don't care. All I want is some answers. If you do that, I'll let you go. Capiche?"

She started looking at me with a scrutinizing gaze, mixed with pure rage, but she seems to be calming down. When I think it's safe, I slowly remove my hand from her mouth. She still stares at me, then says:

"Well, then. What do you want to know?"

"Firstly: what is this place and why did I wake up here?"

"Did you say you just woke up here? Then you must be Lazarus 2! Thank the Diamonds I found you! If the guards would have, you wouldn't even be alive yet! I must-"

"You must answer my fucking question already!"

"Ok, ok. Geez. This is the Kindergarten, and you woke up here because you were planted here, of course."

"Planted? Do I look like a seed to you?"

"I mean your gem was planted, then it took energy from the surrounding ground and you woke up. Simple as that. But did you seriously tie me up just to know how you were made?"

"That's not what I was going for. And still, I'm even more confused. What gem?"

"The one that lets you have a physical form, you idiot. If I had to suppose, it's on your chest. Now let me go already!"

Well, she seems to be right. I have some sort of crystal stuck in my chest, right in front of my heart, I suppose. Why am I not even freaking out? Oh, right. Alex first, then panic. By the way, it is a grayish black with an octagonal cut. Not bad, actually. Still, I'm not done.

"I still have some questions: what is project Lazarus and how am I part of it?"

"That is classified information you-" SLAM! Table, meet peridot's face. Peridot's face, meet table. Hope you'll go along well.

"I'll ask again. What. Is. Project. Lazarus?"

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you, but stop slamming me around! This project was cordoned by the three Diamonds, in order to create more powerful gems, to destroy the remnants of the Rebellion on Earth!"

"Still doesn't tell me why am I part of this."

"You are the second gem produced with the Lazarus specifics! We took the energies of dead beings and forced them in gems, so they could gain a bigger amount of power while incubating, and thus making them stronger that an average quartz solider! That's all I can tell! Really!

I took a second to think this over: if I was actually dead and returned to life, and I was the second, then they have obliviously made another one, and if that is the case, I've got to find them. I looked back at the peridot, who was currently staring at me in fear. Not that I blame her. After all, I'm two times her size, and could kill her easily. Plus I've been told I'm really scary when mad, and now I'm seething with both anger and worry. Where is that other Lazarus? Are they even Alex? I don't know, but I have to find out.

"Final questions: how many Lazarus are out there and where can I find them?"

"There's only one other gem like you, and is still in incubation. The spot is across the canyon from your hole. Now let me go already!"

Ok, then. I'm pretty much set here. The only thing I have to do is to go and find this gem. But first, I can't just let her go like this, she would alert the guards and I would be totally fucked. So I resorted to the last option I had. I grabbed her head one last time and slammed her on my knee. I'll admit, it hurt, but at least she's out cold. Bitch is really thick headed. I took my belt back and put her carefully in some sort of closet that was in here.

Finally, after much hiding and sneaking, I got back to my hole. Now, I'll just hide and… wait. Was that hole there before? Oh shit oh shit oh shit he popped out too!

Now, let's see… there's some footprints here, and they're going to the deserted part of this Kindergarten, luckily for me. So, let's move it. I've been running for a couple minutes and.. YES! There he is! It's actually Alex! Or at least, he looks like him. His hoodie is still white, but with some yellow details here and there, but everything else is the same. He's turning around and… OH MY GOD! It's actually him!

"Alex, buddy, you have no fucking idea how worried I was! I just popped out of the ground and didn't see you, so I started looking around, and interrogated someone, and seems like we're part of a project, and we died, and, and… who cares, I'm just glad I found you!"

Alex just stayed in my arms, dumbfounded for a couple seconds, before hugging me back and saying:

"You went trough a load of stuff, haven't you? Just how long was I in there?"

"I don't know, but I guess I woke up an hour and half or so before you. Anyway, we should move it. I'll explain later, but we should move it right fucking now."

And so we started walking to the end of the ravine, then we used the holes in the walls to climb, tough they were too far between each other, and so I had to carry Alex on my back, until we hit ground level and took a minute to look around and catch our breath. Mainly I for the last part, but still.

"Ehm, Daniel?"

*Huff* "Yeah, what?"

"Where did you say we are again?"

"As of place, we just left the Kindergarten, but regions, I have no idea."

"Then you should look at that."

I then raised my head, but what I saw I wasn't ready for. A huge tower was a couple hundred yards away from us. It was completely made of what looked like some sort of crystal, with a huge light blue beam shooting from the top.

I turned to Alex and said:

"Alex, we aren't in Kansas anymore. Probably not even Earth anymore."

"On that I agree. I really think we should find some answers. And I mean more than what we know already."

"Well, then. Let's get moving. And keep your eyes and ears open for anyone around. We don't know what are they going to do to us if they will find us."

And so we started marching, unaware that the guards were already on our tracks.


	3. Chapter 2: No pain, no gain

**Hello everyone, this is Xeno talking and welcome to a new chapter of Heirs of a Lost World! Now, to begin this I want to thank all the people that supported me at the beginning, and to apologize for the abrupt change of perspective between the prologue and the first chapter. I wanted to try my hand at both kinds, and to be honest I feel somewhat better writing from an internal perspective. If you would have preferred me to keep it in a third-view kind of narration, well sorry again. Do give me advice for improving, tough. That's always welcome!**

 **With all of this out of the way, I only have some things left to say: enjoy, favorite, comment and more importantly:**

 **Steven Universe, it's characters, places and anything involved belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Daniel and Alex are mine, while the story is mine too.**

Daniel's P.O.V.

Welp, that took a lot more than I would have liked. At least we're here now. So, right now we're hiding behind some random stone, 'cause this place seems pretty guarded. Luckily for us, these quartzes are strong, but quite dim-witted. We're trying to find a way in, but it seems pretty fucking impossible, because it seems that there are guards at every damn spot!

Now, now. Getting mad won't solve our predicament. We need to know how to proceed, and since I wanted to step in charge, I might as well do it.

"Alex, you see anything useful on your side?"

Alex turned to me and said:

"Can't say I have, but why are we even trying to get in here?"

"The answer is that I don't have any answer. That's what we're looking for. If we can manage to get some more information, we might be able to understand just where in the galaxy are we, and maybe also understand what should we do. Don't know about you, but I don't trust these 'Gems'."

"Can't see openings neither in your reasoning, but why this place? Wouldn't it be better some other place? Maybe with less guards?"

While he is right, no one would guard such a place if it wasn't important. Right? But then, I should also remember that I'm not alone here, and I need to keep also Alex safe. I know, that sounds selfish on so many levels, but what can I say, I'm an overprotective guy.

"I really can't see any other place. Plus, if we leave it's very probable that we'll be seen, and then stuff will ensue. I would rather not fight these guys. They look like they could break us with two fingers!"

Alex just sighed and looked over the rock once more, before returning to me and said:

"Sneaky approach it is then. The guards seem to be entering the tower. Think we should give it a closer look?"

"And giving them a chance to catch you? No way. You stay here, and give me a signal if someone is coming. Capiche?"

Alex stared at me with disapproving eyes, before nodding and saying:

"I really can't change your mind, huh? Fine, I'll stay here, but if you fuck it up, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do much against these guys. So do. NOT. Fuck it up."

With that out of the way, I started sneaking my way towards that tower. Ok, to be honest I was just walking very quietly, but the point still stands. Anyway, I approached the door and saw two guards on the other side, talking about something I couldn't hear. I slowly encircled the structure, finding a window on a higher level. It was close enough, so I started climbing, still being careful about making no noise. Upon reaching the window, I peeked inside, and found no one in there, so I just opened the window and jumped in (seriously, tough. Who keeps windows open like this?).

Nonetheless, the room I was in was almost empty, save for the stairs on either side, one going up and another down, and a bunch of circuitry going all over the walls. Seeing nothing to do here, I just chose to go upstairs. And all in religious silence.

The next room was the last one of the tower, and held some sort of crystal-pillar-thing. Whatever it was, there were also some guards here, huddled over something that seemed some futuristic computer, almost fully holographic (and seeing that, the Sci-fi fan in me squeed), that was transmitting some sort of message. Whatever that was, it didn't seem good for them, if the surprised/worried muttering was any indication.

From what I understood from the broadcasted message, there were a bunch of ships ready to return, but almost all of the soldiers were 'shattered' or 'cracked'. Still don't understand the meaning of that, but anyway. Back to the matter at hand: info. With all the people here, it would have been pretty fucking impossible to get in without raising alarm, so I just chose to go back to Alex, when suddenly problem! Again!

The room where I got in was empty before, but now the guards at the entrance were here, seemingly laughing about something. Straining my ears to the maximum, I heard what they were talking about:

"Well look at this, some intruder trying to sneak in from the window. And they said guard duty wasn't fun!"

In that moment, the guard that spoke threw something away from him and OH GOD NOT THIS they caught Alex!

"Well, I suppose that someone should teach you some manners, kid."

As the other guard fished out of wherever a sword, my panic went into overdrive: I had to help him.

In that moment my instinct had the better of me, and I rushed in, blocking the first sword strike with my scythe-wait since when did I have a fucking scythe? Bah, who cares!

The sword guard looked at me with wide eyes, then in a split second he hit again, with such strength that made my teeth clatter. But still, my friend was in danger, and I wouldn't let them hurt him!

With newfound power, I lashed at the two guards like a madman. Strike after strike I parried, and as many strikes I returned. After a couple seconds, the other guard stepped in, this one with a spear (seriously, where in the hell do they keep those things?), and tried stabbing me, but I quickly sidestepped and countered slamming the butt of my scythe in his face, then going in for the kill by decapitation, but my scythe was stopped by the sword of that other guard and forced back.

Trough some unknown means, I managed to keep the scythe in my hands, and parried a downward slash from the sword, while avoiding another stab from the spear. I wasn't fast enough, and the spear managed to wound my side. Weirdly no blood flowed from the gash in my side, but hell did it hurt! Thankfully my adrenaline hit once more, and I managed to stun the sword guard, then threw myself at the spear guard, which was caught unprepared by my change of objective and didn't raise his spear in time, so I managed to throw him off balance and impaling his head. In a second, his whole body turned into smoke and was absorbed into a yellow gem, which fell on the ground while I turned around to deal with the last guard.

The guy seemed in a state of choc, but he wasn't looking at me, instead he stared at his chest, which had a falchion endebbed in it. The next moment, there was a cloud of smoke and he disappeared inside his own white gem. Behind him, guess what? Alex was standing with the falchion in both of his hands, breathing harsh and slow.

His hands trembled and he fell on the ground, his falchion disappearing in a flash of light while he struggled to gain back his breath. We weren't free of danger whatsoever, tough. The other guards more than surely heard the commotion and were coming here. So as also my scythe flashed away too, I took Alex in my arms and started running for the stairs. Once outside I looked at Alex, who seemed to be in better shape than before and said:

"Think you can manage to run?"

Alex looked up to me, his cheeks stained, but his eyes unwavering and answered:

"Yes, I can. Now let me down. There's no time to waste."

So I put him down and started heading in a random direction, with Alex right in tow. After five minutes of running I looked behind us and noticed no one following, so I let ourselves to slow down a little. After a while, we decided to take a rest to get back our strength. Looking back at my side, I noticed I was as good as new, with no scratches at all! This is getting seriously creepy, although I can't complain. Fast regeneration? I'm in for that.

We then started looking around to find some sort of landmark, and we did find it! It was some king of hangar, I suppose, but with freaking spaceships, man! Seeing we had not much of an other choice, we went in there. This time the place seemed empty, and for our luck open. Now, normally I wouldn't be going inside open places like nothing, but what would you have done?

No matter that, we started looking around, this time staying close to each other. There were a couple spaceships, all in the form of…hands? Now that's weird. Whatever, who cares. While I was staring at the spaceships (spacehands?) Alex called me from a table in the back of the hangar, seemingly excited about something.

When I approached him I noticed that on the table was spread a stellar map of sorts, the most peculiar thing was that there seemed to be a route already written on it. Maybe some pilot forgot it here? Nonetheless, this was extremely good for us, since from what I remembered about astronomy, it was visible that we were on a star system not too far from ours, in stellar distances, at least.

Well, that's one thing out of commission. But now, we had to get out of this planet. We both were feeling sick about 'killing' those guards, if that can be considered killing and definitely didn't want to go through that ever again.

There was only one thing left to do: hijack one of the spaceships and bail out of this hell.

"Alex-"

"I know. We have to get away from this place. You tend to mutter when thinking, you know?"

"Well, ok then. C'mon."

After that epic fail, we decided on a small green ship, which seemed maneuverable enough and not too noticeable. SURPRISE open door for us!

Now, either they are way too trusting, or the pilot is a complete imbecile. I could bet that it was the same guy (or girl) that forgot the map in the first place. Not that I mind in the slightest, not at all (Hopefully I didn't jinx us).

The door was stupidly simple to close from the inside, a simple push of a button and BOOM. Just us and the ship on our merry way! Or at least, if we knew how to drive it, but I suppose we'll manage. Nothing better than a crash lesson, right? Ok, maybe not.

It was quiet, tough. Way too quiet. I looked behind me, where Alex was still looking at everything he found in amazement, and said:

"It's way too easy. Normally I don't think it would be so easy to get inside a spaceship like this. Let's stick together and be careful."

Alex looked back at me, before shaking his head and readying himself to fight if necessary. I did the same, and my scythe appeared again in my hand.

Taking a second to actually look at it, I saw that the blade was irregular on the outward side, while extremely sharp on the inward side and was kind of see-through. It was still very noticeable and sturdy, almost like a grey diamond. The handle was the same color as my gem and strapped with what looked like leather, but had a smoother texture, yet a way better grip and could take quite a hit, if the spear and sword strikes I parried with it was any indication. Whatever that was, I definitely wanted a pair of gloves made of the same thing.

Musings apart, we then started walking towards what I suppose was the helm of the ship. The commands of the ship had to be there. We had to walk trough a bunch of rooms, and even near a couple of cells, I suppose? It wasn't easy to notice, but there seemed to be a machine that created some sort of force field in a little indent on the ceiling. Accidentally I activated it, and the force field fell right on me. I was expecting it to hurt me, or to be flung away, or anything at all. Instead, it was merely cold. Ok, really cold, but nothing that could convince someone not to touch it. I just attributed it to the fact that me and Alex were way stronger than an average Gem. Speaking of Alex, in the meantime he was on the floor laughing at my scared reaction. I'm soooo getting back at him for this.

Still, we managed to reach what I would classify as the helm of this weird ship. There was some sort of console, but it didn't have any button on it. If it has vocal activation, I'll slap a bitch.

After some fiddling around, Alex managed, God knows how, to put his hands inside the console! Bless him for doing that, because the ship had a 'neural interface' that I could have never found out.

However, a lot of 'commands' appeared in front of my eyes, like I would be wearing a VR! Still, only a couple really struck my interest. Mainly the travel route, the security cams and the autopilot mode. Ain't that useful. But now that I think about it, just how is this in a comprehensible language, when every other tech I saw in this place was unreadable?

 _I can answer that._

Whoa. Robotic Siri voice in my head, just when I thought I couldn't get anymore insane.

 _I can assure you that your mind is working at an almost optimal performance sir. And no, I am not in your head. I am the AI of this ship. I am speaking to you trough the 'neural interface', as you called it yourself._

Well that's a relief. Even tough I am a little skeptical of this nonetheless, I'm going to let it slide and concentrate onto driving this ship home.

 _If I may, sir I can program the coordinates on the mainframe trough your memories of them, without needing to risk damage to the integrity of the vessel._

That definitely seems way better than me having to drive this thing by hand, but I feel like there is something you are hiding from me.

 _Technically you still are the one that has to lift off. The auto pilot system will take care of the rest._

And pray tell, how in the bloody hell am I supposed to make this thing lift from the ground? I can't even drive a simple car, let alone this!

 _I will guide you trough it, but it is more of a formality than anything. I am able to drive the ship with ease to the required destination, if you so wish._

Of course I want to! What are you even waiting for?

 _I am waiting for your command, sir._

Here's your command: LIFT THE FUCK OFF AND GET US OFF OF THIS DAMNED PLANET!

 _Command acknowledged. Proceeding to 'lift the fuck off and get us off this damned planet'._

 _Coordinates set._

 _You are free to detach yourself from the computer. Have a nice travel._

And with that, the entire ship started to shudder, before moving upwards and shooting off towards the sky. I looked trough the screen before turning to Alex, who was sitting in one of the chairs twiddling with his thumbs. Noticing I was actually looking at him, he sat up straight and said:

"Just what where you doing in there? You were muttering again, and it looked like you were arguing with someone."

I scoffed, before glancing towards the 'interface', as I started calling it and muttering:

"No matter what system am I using, Siri will always drive me crazy."

 **And there you have it folks, our travel trough the stars has begun!**

 **But what is happening back onto that Gem planet?**

"So you are saying that not only have the two Lazarus escaped, but also one of them has injured one of my technicians, they have managed to destroy the physical form of two trained quartzes, and stolen one of my spaceships to travel who-knows-where in the galaxy and NO ONE MANAGED TO STOP THEM!?"

"Yes, my Diamond. But we actually know where they are going right now. They have set route for the planet called Earth."

"Earth, Earth. It's always that planet! Why must all of my problems come from that stupid bunch of stones and water?"

"Well, my Diamond, it seems that the two beings used for the Lazarus experiment were originally native of said 'bunch of rocks' and they seemed to retain their memory of their past selves, if the scanners implanted on them are not defective. And there also seems to be a relationship between the two that dates to before their encounter on Homeworld. Normally a scared Human would tend to return in a place it is most familiar with, thus they are trying to return on Earth."

"Very well, then. Another team was planned to set sail for Earth in a couple cycles. Let us make haste. That ship is leaving during the next cycle."

"Yes my Diamond. I will make sure that said team is informed and ready to leave posthaste."

 **The plot is getting interesting! Who is this other team? Will our heroes manage to reach Earth? And even then, what will they find?**

 **We'll have to wait for the next chapter of… say it with me…**

 **Daniel, Alex and Xeno: "HEIRS OF A LOST WORLD!"**

 **Xeno: "Ok, guys. Thanks for helping me with the outro."**

 **Alex: "No problem, Xeno! Whenever you need, just call!"**

 **Xeno: "Well, that's good to know, because now I need to cancel the memory of this meeting! Don't want you meddling with the script now, would we?"**

 **Daniel: "Wait, what? FUCK THIS SHIT I'M OUT!"**

 **Xeno: "And he just jumped out of the window. Nice. I think we should call an ambulance."**

 **Alex: "Yeah, but who will tell him that it was a prank?"**

 **Xeno: "Don't know, don't care and definitely not me. I'm just the author!"**

 _ **We're interrupting the show for technical problems. Please wait until next chapter.**_


	4. Chapter 3: Beware of what you wish

Starting message…

 **Hello again everyone! Xeno here and ready with another chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**

 **I'm really sorry that the chapter is sooo late, but I just couldn't find any imagination anymore, and wrote barely a couple sentences every time, before getting annoyed and closing the file again. After around two weeks, my inspiration came back and I started writing with energy again. Nonetheless, I tend to write late in the night, so I might fall asleep while writing and all that. But fret not my friends! I'm back and writing in full force again!**

 **Last chapter we left our friends to their ship, unknowing that another team was about to get on their tracks trough space.**

 **Now, it's your turn Alex!**

 **Alex: "Steven Universe, all characters and places related to the show belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. The story, Daniel and me belong to Xeno. Was this all?"**

 **Xeno: "You forgot to say: enjoy, favorite and review!"**

Alex's P.O.V.

That was definitely a hetic couple hours. Finding out you died, running from some place, then being caught, then helping Daniel killing off two guards, then running again, then stealing a spaceship might exhaust almost anyone, I suppose.

Still, while Daniel was looking around the ship for some supplies or whatever, I was stuck there, twiddling my thumbs and checking is there is anyone following us. How come he does all the funny stuff and I can't? I can understand the tower, but this place? There was no one except for us in here, at least standing to what the security cameras show.

Speaking of cameras, I've found Daniel! He's walking around like he expects something to pounce behind anything. He really should calm down, I mean: we were alone here, right?

Anyway, I was still bored as hell! Is there anything funny in this computer to pass the time or whatever? Not that I could find any, and either way I would have been surprised if I would have.

Still, there's some logs and files and security things, not that I could make heads or tails of it, but maybe Daniel could understand it. After all, he is the computer expert, while I am the one with people skills. Speaking of which, let's see if he found anything.

He's walking back here, but seems pretty downtrodden about something. I didn't even know I was aware of that word! You do learn a lot by hanging around with smarter people.

Still, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the cabin's door sliding open, and Daniel's steps upon the metallic floor. Daniel then threw himself onto one of the chairs near me, and stared dead in the eye while saying:

"We are dead." Slumping in his chair afterwards, a tired sigh escaping him as his hair covered his right eye. "This ship has no supplies whatsoever, if you don't count weapons or random spare pieces, probably for the ship, as comestible. We could hunt if we were on the ground, but I really have no idea about what are our odds in outer space. A pretty accurate estimate would be low."

That was definitely a sobering thought. What if we actually met our fate here?

No. Not now. Not after all these efforts. We _will_ get on Earth, no matter what. If only we could go faster…

A hopeful look latched onto my face as I looked back up to Daniel and asked: "What if we would make the ship go faster? We could get to Earth fast enough, hopefully, to begin hunting and foraging. What about it?"

Daniel looked thoughtful for a couple seconds, before smiling and replying in a slightly more confident voice: "That is a good idea. I definitely feel like an idiot now for not thinking about it."

"Well, of course it has to be me saying it. The chapter is in my pov, after all!" I replied, leaning in my chair with a cheesy grin spread onto my face.

Daniel chose not to comment and turned around to place his hand into the control panel. His eyes turned fuzzy and distant, all the while muttering his commands to the computer. After a minute of this, he became seriously nervous and reverted back to his speedy talk. I mean the kind of talk someone tries to avoid when calm, but when you lose it you start spewing out words like a machine gun.

After trying to get himself back in check, he removed his hand and turned to me with a small grin and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Now, I had saw that look on his face, and there were only three reasons why he would wear it: he planned a prank on me, he has to tell me something awesome, or the one I fear worst, he has done something incredibly stupid and dangerous, which I am involved into.

Daniel then started buckling the belt of his chair, while exhorting me to do the same. I did so, but after that I decided to address the matter and ask him:

"Just what did you put me into this time?"

Daniel glanced my way, and snickered. After getting a hold on himself he said: "Nothing terrible, but right now the ship is getting ready to be the fastest thing you'll ever ride in your life."

That scared me quite a lot. I mean, I did ask to go faster, but I have seen fast stuff, and if this is any faster, then we're absolutely in deep trouble. Before I could voice a complaint, however, the whole ship shook, and we picked up some speed. Then a lot of speed. Then we were close to Mach whatever-hundred in terms of speed. This whole matter was terrifying for me, but not my friend, who seemed fine, just chillin' and wearing a big grin, while still looking at me.

After I got used to the speed, I looked back to His Craziness and said in a trembling voice: "What in the fucking world is wrong with you?! I was telling you to crank up the speed, but not to perform a fase jump! You know I hate super fast stuff!"

Daniel looked at me contemplatively, before deciding to give me a damn answer: "I know that was a dick move, and I was also quite sure you would yell at me like this, but this will let us reach Earth in only a bunch of minutes, and also your face when you noticed I did something was absolutely hilarious!" He finished his short speech with a thundering laugh, which was not much dislike a wolf's barking to be honest.

Thinking about it, I suppose my reaction was pretty amusing in some ways, and decided to join in the mirth a little.

After taking a couple minutes to get back control on ourselves, I looked outside again, and I could swear I saw a certain blue speck behind a star. The ship was heading in that direction, so I supposed that we were heading there.

Daniel looked towards what I was looking at, and went to talk to the computer for a couple seconds. He came back to the 'window' with me and told me:

"We are only ten minutes away from home. Finally. To be honest I don't know what to expect, but I suppose we'll make due."

I wordlessly nodded, and kept looking to the approaching star, wondering what a world without the 'plague' would be like.

10 minutes later

This is starting off as extremely weird. I mean… There' s no Russia! Not that I cared _that_ much about Russia, but that's still a big blow.

Going in order: we reached Earth a little earlier than expected, noticed the continents are all screwed, even tough Daniel gives it off for a time change, us being maybe waaay ahead in the future, or ended up in a possible alternate past, or some shit. I'm not a scientist, ok? Being the smartass is more of Daniel's job anyways.

Anyway, we landed between two hills and close to a forest, so that the ship would be somewhat protected against the elements while we gathered info.

After a quick debate, we agreed to proceed towards the hills and then proceed north. Our trek trough the hills was somewhat winding, but after twenty minutes on the lookout, we spotted a quite astonishing sight.

A massive plain expanded in front of us, the end of the plain barely visible to us. What made it astonishing was the bunch of strawberry plants that covered said plain. And If that wasn't enough, gigantic weapons dotted the field, seemingly abandoned by their owners. Time was standing still as we let the surreal setting settle in our minds, admiring the work of nature towards whoever went against it.

Daniel was the first to recovery, jogging down the small hill we were standing on, and starting to pluck strawberries from the plants, followed shortly by me, as we made a decent supply, using his coat as a makeshift bag to store our fruit.

We also took the opportunity to eat some of the berries, and damn were they good! Best thing I ever ate, and pretty surely Daniel would have said so too, was his mouth not full of strawberries. We then decided to walk back towards our ship and get some rest, before exploring better the zone. Something useful is always where you would expect it less, as Daniel says.

30 minutes later

The walk back was pretty uneventful, so I'll just summarize it and be done with it: we got back here, Daniel dumped half a crate of ice outside to make place for the berries, while I was getting a fore ready, since thee weather was getting pretty chill, even with the little light left outside. Using a trick my uncle taught me, I calculated there was around half an hour left of sunlight. I should hurry up and gather all the wood I can get in order to make a decent fire, although luck isn't in my favor lately, since some weird creature similar to a sabretooth leapt from the trees towards me.

I wonder why they always target me, but all in all it really isn't the moment, is it? Nonetheless, I was running with a bunch of sticks in my arms, God knows why, but I decided to get some time and threw them all in the feline's face. It was dazed for a moment, and I choose to bail it straight towards the ship.

I managed to get to the ship, where Daniel was waiting for me, leaning on the wall of the ship with a pretty miffed expression. Once he took notice of me, he took a breath, probably getting ready to ask me why I had no wood with me, but I cut him out and wheezed:

"No time *huff* huge cat *huff* coming this way *huff* got to help me." With that, I took his hand and tried to lead him inside the ship, but he just looked at me like I would be stupid and said:

"A huge cat? Did you eat anything weird in the woods?" He queried while cocking his head, a worried frown crossing his visage.

I shook my head and replied vehemently: "I'm being serious here! A real sabretooth leaped at me and I stunned it throwing sticks at it, but now there's not much time! It's coming here and it's going to kill us all!" My face had assumed a strained and desperate look, adding to the danger of the situation.

Daniel was taking a second to reason on this, but it proved to be too much, since the underbrush parted as the thing that was following me made itself known. Now that I had a chance to properly look at it, I noticed that only the structure was that of a sabretooth, its fur being a greenish yellow, tending to lime. It had four eyes, disposed to form an X onto its forehead, crystal-like spikes running across its back and tail, to form something along the lines of a spiky club on the tip of the tail. All of this in 4 by 7 feet of pure horror. We were absolutely dead.

Thee beast charged at the two of us, letting loose a roar that would put a dinosaur to shame.

Daniel was fast enough to push me away and to summon his scythe. I should probably mention that we tried multiple times to call our weapons, and now we had a good hang of it.

Still, Daniel wasn't fast enough to dodge the beast, but could keep it at bay from chomping his face off. Reminding myself of how to call my falchion, I did just that, and my gem lighted up, the handle of my sword fasing out of it and jutting out of my belly. I then gripped the handle and unsheathed the blade, turning my attention towards the battle in progress. They were still in the same positions, but Daniel was obliviously getting tired fast, and I had to help.

I dashed towards the tiger, and collided it with all the strength I could muster, effectively making it jump away from Daniel. The latter got back to his feet, and stared at the beast with me, getting ready for its next move. The tiger started circling us, all four eyes pointed at us, while we had our own four eyes trained towards it.

This game went on for a while, until the beast decided to lash at us again, this time using its tail-mace, but we both jumped out of the way, and sent our own attack: we started to run around it in opposite senses to confuse it, and in the moment we found an opening, we lashed out to hit, just to get back at a safe distance from the predator. This went on for two minutes or so, and we all were extremely tired, the tiger moving sluggishly due to the massive amount of wounds on its back, legs and abdomen. It wasn't easy to get close enough to slash, tough, and both of us showed some cuts here and there. Mostly scratches, but we had a couple close calls when the tiger started throwing at us the spikes on its back: a couple nicked close to our eyes, and a thin one nailed Daniel in the back. Nothing deadly, but it would be probably painful for a long while.

The tiger was wobbling visibly at this point, so me and Daniel locked eyes and nodded: it was time to finish this. With a jump we were unto the beast in a moment, and a combined cut of my falchion and Daniel's scythe managed to decapitate finally the tiger.

The head fell with a wet thump, followed immediately after by the body. This only lasted for a second, tough, as the whole tiger disappeared in a puff of smoke and retreated in a gem we hadn't noticed earlier. Said gem had a prismatic cut, with a blue-purplish color. Daniel picked it up and gave it a once over, then put it in his pocket.

We were both too tired to deal with that, and wordlessly agreed to sleep in the ship. Once inside, I helped Daniel to pull the spike from his shoulder. The weird thing was, that he had no blood whatsoever leaking from the wound, and also from neither of the others. The same was happening with me, however, and I was about to bring it up to Daniel, but he gave me a glare that screamed: 'I don't want to deal with your shit right now.' ,so I took the hint and shut up. We both fell asleep under Daniel's coat, which was a bit smelly, but otherwise was fine.

Still, a lot of questions floated in my head: what was that thing? Why did it have a gem like Daniel and me? Why didn't we bleed? I had a feeling that Daniel could shed some light, but it was mostly hoping. Nevertheless, Daniel proved himself smarter than one would give him credit for multiple times. If someone could figure it out, that was him. But for now, goodnight…

 **Welp, here it is! Our friends have reached Earth, but it seems the planet has become very hostile! Will Alex get his answers? Will they ever meet the Crystal Gems? Will I bee able to write a story with an actual sense?**

 **This and a lot more in the next chapter of…**

 **Daniel, Alex and Xeno: "Heirs of a lost world!"**

 **Xeno: "Ok, guys. See you next time."**

 **Daniel: "Not so fast mister. Do you realize that stupid prank of yours had me in casts for a week and half?! Now you gotta pay for it."**

 **Xeno: "*nervously laughs* Now, now… there's no need for violence…"**

 ***bolts out of the door***

 **Daniel: "No you don't! Get back here!"**

 ***runs after Xeno***

 **Alex: "I actually expected that. To be the same person those two actually fight a lot. Oh, I didn't tell you? Xeno created Daniel using his own appearance, even tough the character is quite different. As of myself, I'm based off Xeno's actual best friend. They came up with the story concept together, so there. Now excuse me, but I must make sure that those two don't kill each other. Goodbye!"**

End of message


	5. Chapter 4: Taking a risk

Loading message…

 **Howdy guys and gals! Xeno here and welcome to another chapter of Heirs of a lost world! I just keep writing these whenever I get the inspiration, but don't worry, the story isn't dead! Not for a long time, that is!**

 **Now, our heroes were left sleeping in the ship after a quite hetic fight against some unknown mutant being, which left them quite battered! What new problems and questions will the new day bring? Let's find out! But first…**

 **Daniel: "Alex, me and the story belong to Xeno. Steven Universe, its characters and places belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Review, favorite and enjoy!"**

 **Xeno: " Very good! Now to- WHOA!"**

 **Daniel: *eyeing Xeno with malicious intent* "Now readers, here's your chapter. In the meantime we need to have a talk about joke limits. UNINTERRUPTED."**

3rd person P.O.V.

It was a quite nice day in Beach City. The seagulls were floating lazily in the air, while people were milling around seemingly carelessly. Although, that was not the case, since many of the inhabitants had just witnessed a quite shocking news report: around three hours ago a weird construction similar to a green hand had landed on Earth, more specifically in the surroundings of Denmark. This news had not escaped the ears of a certain boy, who was in this very moment running towards his beach house to warn his surrogate mothers of said fact.

The boy in question was quite stocky and young, with a pudgy belly and very dark brown eyes, which melted in the black of his pupils, making them look almost pitch black. His hair was very curly and messy, the color matching his own eyes. He was also wearing a magenta colored t-shirt with a yellow star on his chest, jeans shorts and slippers. If you hadn't guessed, we're talking about Steven Universe, the local Gem halfling, and youngest member of the Crystal Gems.

Steven climbed the steps that lead to his door and slammed said door open, startling two of the three women inside, who turned around from their previous occupations to look at the kid, who was trying to regain his breath after the run.

When Steven managed to stand upright, he spoke:

"Girls, you will not believe this: an alien spaceship landed in Denmark! And to top it off it was green! Do you think Peridot is involved in this?"

The first to move was Garnet: she was very tall, with purple-reddish skin and black hair fashioned in a square afro. She got up from her place on the couch and said in her monotone but authoritative voice:

"Peridot might be involved in this, but not necessarily has it to be a direct involvement. Still, it would be probably a good idea to go meet these visitors."

Pearl got then out of her reverie, and said:

"I suppose we could also use this time also to try hunting down that corrupted which was running around in the forest nearby the old warzone."

Upon the mentioning of hunting corrupted, Amethyst jumped out of the fridge, with a sandwich made of questionable things in her hand and said excitedly:

"Finally some action! I was getting bored of lazing around doing a whole lotta of nothing! Count me in!"

Steven was excited too, but for other reasons: maybe he would finally have a chance to reason with Peridot, or at least meet some other Gem and bring them to their side! That was, if they didn't try to kill them first, but he would cross that bridge if it came to it.

While Steven was deep in his thoughts, the Gems were discussing with each other to form a plan on how to approach whoever landed with the ship.

"What can you see Garnet? Are they going to be a problem?" Pearl asked, hoping for Garnet to shed some light on the situation.

"My future sight is quite fuzzy and it's hard to see anything, but I can tell they're two, and they are not hostile, just wary, as if they would have been trough a lot of trouble in a short time. That's all I can tell about them, but I know they are close to the corrupted's forest. We should hurry."

Amethyst was unusually silent trough the whole ordeal, but just because her mind was only focused on her sandwich. Once she was done with it, she saw everyone onto the warp pad, getting ready for teleporting, so she hurried up and jumped on the pad just in time to teleport with the others.

Once they had reached their destination, Garnet took immediately the lead, followed shortly behind by Amethyst, and on the back Pearl was beside Steven on the lookout for anything dangerous. The sky there was dark, with a soft breeze blowing close to the ground. The team reached the end of the plain, where Garnet signaled everyone to stop. She crouched to inspect some footprints on the ground, muttering:

"The print is quite fresh, a couple hours at most. They were both here, and came from the direction on the ship. They stopped here and… ate strawberries? This doesn't make much sense. Why would a Homeworld gem eat anything? Nonetheless, there are a lot missing, which means that they probably brought them back with them." Garnet then got up and faced her teammates saying: "We have a lead. Let's follow their tracks. Eventually we'll reach them."

And reach them they did. After a quite lengthy trek trough the hills, they spotted the ship. The ground nearby was heavily disturbed and littered with crystal-like spikes of a cyan color, like a heavy fight had been consumed on that zone. Most of the Gems deemed it not that important, and continued towards the ship. It was closed, but Pearl was able to force the mechanism open without problems, allowing them to proceed unhindered. Walking trough the ship the group stumbled across a quite curios sight: two guys around the age of Steven were on the ground, sleeping under a black coat, probably belonging to the taller one. Too bad for them that the automatic lights of the ship switched on that instant, rousing the two teens.

Daniel's P.O.V.

I woke up to a blinding white light shining right in front of me. It felt like I hadn't slept at all! Actually, I was also quite sure I looked like I felt, which meant ready to murder someone.

Again.

Nonetheless, I let my mouth speak by itself as I said:

"Who is the sucker that woke me up at this unholy hour?!"

While saying that, I felt shuffling beside me, and a bunch of eyes watching me. That rang some alarm bells in my head, since one doesn't normally wake up with someone next to them and others looking. I then chose to open my eyes, and regained my bearings: I was on a metallic floor, under a coat with Alex, and there's three women and a guy who I don't know staring at us. In that moment I remembered what happened the day before, but that didn't explain who the others were.

That thought made my instinct kick in, and I got up, placing myself between Alex and the intruders, and called forth my scythe, holding it in a defensive stance. Whoever they were, the scythe startled them, if only for a second. The tallest one brought out a couple of huge gauntlets, the thin one shoved the kid behind her and summoned a spear. Finally the short and purple one brought out a whip and tried hitting me with it, but I simply let it wrap around my arm and cut it off with the blade of my scythe easily enough.

I really didn't want to fight, so I tried diplomacy for once: "Listen here, I'm tired, sore and thoroughly pissed, so just fuck off and let us be. We did nothing to you!" I definitely wasn't in the mood to be calm, so I pretty much spoke my mind without a second thought.

Afro girl responded: "Nothing? You have a Gem spaceship and you want us to believe you are not on their side? Very likely." The sarcasm was strong in this one, as Yoda would say.

Although her words made me reflect a second: she recognized the ship as a Gem-made one, but she has also indirectly said that they aren't on their side. Yet, they're definitely Gems too, unless…

"Hey, are you done thinking or should we get comfy?" This time the purple one had spoken. I turned my head to look at her, and she definitely looked like she was ready to beat me into the ground.

"It's just a hunch I have, but are you guys the so called 'resistance'?"

The gems tensed when I asked that, and Afro spoke again, her voice strained, like she was considering a dozen ways to kill me:

"Yes, we are the Crystal Gems. Now, who are you and what are you doing on Earth?"

Welp, that's them alright. At least we found who they intended to exterminate using us. I think I should try to calm them and myself down too, should I?

I held my scythe in one hand, while I kept the other raised in a placating gesture and said in the calmest voice I could muster:

"I really think we got off the wrong foot. How about we just start over and apologize? I'll go first: I'm sorry for threatening you and for being a jerk." With that I looked at them encouragingly, waiting for them to make their move.

The kid poked his head from behind the three women and said:

"I'm sorry for getting in here forcefully and waking you up." The three looked at the kid with a disapproving glance, but I caught that and answered:

"Don't worry about it, buddy. Apology accepted. Now, if you three are done staring at him like he did something wrong, which he did not, I'm still waiting for y'all." This time the three were at the receiving end of my and the kid's glare. They shifted uncomfortably a moment, before straightening back up. The first one to go was Afro:

"Alright then. I'm sorry too for entering without permission, waking you up and almost beating you. And also for the accuses."

At least she seemed honest about it, albeit a little annoyed. Whitey was next:

"While I do not believe that you are as nice as you might want us to believe, I suppose I should apologize as well for my behavior against you and your friend. Which doesn't even seem to care, from the looks of it." She was right, because Alex was still huddled in my coat and sleeping away, like nothing was wrong. We then directed our gazes to the purple girl, who was apparently minding her own business without cares. When she noticed our gazes, she said in an annoyed voice:

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'm sorry too. Happy now?"

"I would appreciate if you would tone it down a bit, but except for that, yes, sure."

I then looked at the only two people who seemed somewhat agreeable with, which means the kid and Afro girl.

"Now that this is out of the way, I would appreciate if you were to tell me who exactly are you and what brought here. Of course, firstly my name is Midnight. Now, for those answers?"

The kid was fast to open up and said:

"My name's Steven! And we came here because we thought you were some evil gem that was here to attack us! Still, we were planning of using the time also to hunt down a corrupted gem around here anyway." The kid flashed me a sincere smile, as if he thought that only because I stopped attacking them I was his friend.

To be honest, I gave them a fake name because I thought it would be the best course of action to see if they were trustworthy. After all, they _did_ get in here by force, and people with good intentions normally don't do that.

Afro girl stared at me trough her visor, before giving in and saying in a monotone voice:

"Very well. My name is Garnet. This here is Pearl." She said pointing to Whitey "And the one over there is Amethyst."

I glanced towards the newly dubbed Amethyst, and saw she was rummaging in my coat's pockets. I started walking towards her, when she took out the gem I picked up from the tiger-beast-thing and looked at it alarmed, before whipping her head towards me and asked me in a breathless voice:

"Where did you get this?"

"Well, yesterday evening we were getting ready to bunk up, but my friend here was chased from a weird monster trough the forest and ended up here. When it attacked us, we killed it, albeit with quite some problems. Finally, when it died, that was all that remained. It just exploded."

All of the gems looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in existence, when Pearl screamed:

"Are you insane!? Do you realize that if we didn't get here that gem would have regenerated before morning and killed both of you while sleeping?! We must absolutely bubble it!"

In that moment the gem in Amethyst's hand started glowing, and she threw it as far away from us as possible. I watched speechlessly as the tiger gem reformed under my very eyes. In a final flash of light, the fucker was back, but the spikes were bigger, and they looked sharper. Also the teeth and tail looked razors, while I was still sore as fuck from the first round. At least I had some help from someone more experienced.

The tiger looked around itself, before laying its eyes upon me, and growling. It most likely remembered me. But then, it took also notice of who was closest to it, A.K.A. Alex. It was getting ready to make a break for it, and so did I.

We started running at each other at the same time, but the tiger was gaining ground way faster than me, so I sprinted with all I had, but it was still not enough. By the time I had made half the distance between me and Alex, it was already upon him, ready to kill.

I just couldn't let it happen. Not now. Not after all of this. I forced my legs to move faster and faster, until I started to see the tiger with a paw in the air, ready to crash Alex's head. But it just wouldn't bulge. It had stopped moving, just like Alex had. I had no time to think about it though, and kept running, my trusty scythe in hand. When I reached the tiger, I swung from left towards its open mouth, and was rewarded seeing the tip of my blade pass trough the back of the tiger's neck, severing its spine. I used my momentum to throw the tiger away, and just in that moment did it start to bleed. Its movements were back, although spastic and erratic. It was definitely in pain. No matter what it tried to do, I couldn't leave it like this. I have morals too, you know.

I started approaching it with long strides, until I was right atop of it. I lifted my scythe and murmured:

"Requiescat in pace"

Then I slammed my scythe onto its neck one last time, killing it for good. The body disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and the gem was back.

I then picked the gem up, and threw it towards the Crystal Gems, having it caught by Garnet, before being enveloped in a reddish-pink bubble. Garnet then tapped the bubble and it disappeared, along with the gem inside it. I looked at the lot of them and said:

"I suggest we take this discussion outside. I have a feeling it's going to get even louder."

And bring it out we did, leaving Alex to his blissful sleep is the ship. On a side note, Alex was always a heavy sleeper until it was only noises. Contact would wake him up, but noise didn't.

I was actually feeling extremely weak all of a sudden, but I just chalked it off as the lack of sleep.

I had barely the time to close the door, before I was assaulted by a barrage of questions from Steven and Amethyst:

"How did you do that? How come you didn't bubble it? Why did you say you had trouble the first time when you basically one-shotted it? How did you" And there goes Garnet, shutting them up with her hands. Once they had calmed down, she got up and let them go.

I nodded at Steven and he asked:

"How did you manage to poof that corrupted gem so easily? Didn't you say you had trouble when you were in two?"

I took a little to collect my thoughts, then looked back at him and said:

"All I have at best is this: I saw my friend in danger and I went in overdrive. If there's one thing you don't do is hurting my friends in front of me. It isn't even the first time I killed something because of it, actually. I just didn't think, probably got a boost in power from the desperation, and I'm also sure I just hit the right point by sheer dumb luck. Next?"

Amethyst looked at me suspiciously, before shrugging and asking her own question:

"Look, I can understand desperation makes you do pretty awesome stuff, and I'm no stranger to it either, but what I can't wrap my head around is: one moment you were running towards the corrupted, but the next you skipped a couple dozen feet and were throwing that gem away like it was nothing; it's not like I just missed it, it was like as if you would take a film and cut off some of the frames, then reattached the ends of the film missing the frames where you reach the gem. You straight up disappeared, then came back in a millisecond way further away! How do you explain that!"

As Amethyst was done ranting, I took a second also this time to examine what I know. To their perspective I teleported, or something like that, while to me everything screeched to a halt. So, as a great detective once said: 'once you eliminate the impossible, what remains, even if unbelievable, is the truth'.

"I believe I blocked time."

All of them shut up immediately and stared at me with looks that ranged from amazement, to astonishment, to utter disbelief. Pearl tried to object my logic saying:

"Even if so, how did you get to such a preposterous theory? I really hope you have some sort of proof over your claims."

"Yes, actually. Firstly, there is what Amethyst has told me, regarding my apparent teleportation skills. Teleportation is nothing more than movement of mass in a very short amount of time, and coupled with the fact that light can only travel trough a time continuum, it impeded you to see me while time was still, being there no chance for the light to reflect off of me. Plus, while I was running, everything I saw froze up, no one was even breathing. The theoretical fact, plus mine and your experiences, make it quite clear that I have the ability to block time to a standstill. Well, that was quite the rant. Sorry."

Pearl was looking at me with a shocked look on her face, as if I would just have proven her that the sun spins around the Earth. Amethyst in the meantime was on the ground, laughing her ass off to Pearl's expression, while Steven was trying, and failing, may I add, to get Pearl out of her trance. Garnet, in all of this, was just looking at me, a small grin spread on her face.

Amethyst was mostly out of it, but she found the force to say:

"No one _ever_ managed to shut up Pearl using science like that! I didn't get half of what you said, but you still get my respect for this!"

At least two of them trusted me, somewhat, that is. Probably Pearl won't, but I'm not one to give a fuck about people's opinion. Unless it's a positive opinion, of course.

After a full minute of silence from Pearl's part, I started getting worried, and tried multiple things, like giving her a light slap or shaking her. Nothing was working, but then I got an idea: I got back inside and grabbed one of the frozen strawberries, then I got back out, and put the fruit in Pearl's top. To say the reaction was hilarious would be an understatement.

Once her skin was in contact with the frozen treat, she began hopping between a foot and the other, while shaking her hands and saying: "Cold! Cold! Cold!" over and over again. Me, Steven and Amethyst were trying to hold back a fuck ton of laughs, while even the silent Garnet let herself chuckle a little with us. Once Pearl got the strawberry out of her top, she glared at me, but let herself join the mirth a little after that. Once we were all calmed down, we decided to sit down and share some more information about each other. Steven was first, explaining who the Crystal Gems were, and what was their work. I tried to get some more information, and it seemed that there was a big war on the strawberry field, thus the reason as to why there were so many weapons in that place. Another thing I learned was that they were all that remained of the resistance, since Homeworld, which is how they called their home planet, go figure, blasted the planet with a beam that transformed all the gems on the planet in monsters akin to the one that I killed earlier, but their former leader, a certain Rose Quartz, saved them with her shield and from then they chose to stay here, protecting humanity.

I, of course, told them of my and Alex's adventures until now, leaving of course our past life untold. I just told them that I felt a force pushing me to find him and protecting him. They attributed it to us being planted so close and some other shit like that. What ever, as long as it didn't sound unbelievable.

This way I found out also that they came here at first because they thought The ship was piloted by a non specified peridot. Apparently she had come here a couple weeks ago and started messing with the Kindergarten on this planet for whatever reason. She left some time before my arrival, so they thought she was back with reinforcements. Hopefully It wasn't the same peridot I met during my time on Homeworld. If I met her here again, that would be awkward as fuck.

We kept talking of this and that for a while, until sunrise, but when the sun began peeking from the hills, Steven started to get a little drowsy, meaning that it was time for them to get back home.

Steven still didn't want to leave us here, thus he fought vehemently so we could go with them and live at his place. Personally, I couldn't care less, but I would rather have Alex sleeping somewhere more comfortable, than a ship that reeks of unbathed guys.

So, when Pearl tried to argue saying there wasn't enough place for us, I butted in and said:

"I'll have you know that you don't have to take me in. It would already be a lot if you only took Zenith."

Pearl was quite flabbergasted at my proposition:

"Are you saying that you would rather give him a roof on his head than taking the opportunity for yourself? That's really noble of you, but I actually mean it when I say there's no room."

Steven decided that was a good moment to back me up and said:

"No one uses the couch and has a foldable bed in it! They could sleep there!"

Pearl's eyes then widened as she facepalmed:

"Of course. Why do I never keep these things in account?" She then turned to me with a kind smile and said: "Alright then. You can stay with us, if you're fine with the foldable bed."

I deadpanned, keeping my eyes locked on Pearl and said in a voice flatter than Garnet's:

"I haven't slept in around 24 hours. Believe me when I say I would sleep anywhere. I don't get how I'm able to think right now."

I then turned around to go get Alex, but only ended up slamming into Garnet. If I haven't mentioned it, she's almost a foot taller than me, without considering the hair. She was just there, unmoving, staring at me behind her visor. Even behind said visor I could feel the intensity of her stare.

She then motioned for me to follow her, and I complied, not willing to get on her bad side again. Once we were out of earshot, she turned to me and said:

"Make no mistake: only because we're letting Steven take you in, it doesn't mean that we trust you. I know you are hiding something, even though I'm not sure what, but I will not let you go around doing whatever you wish. You will be under strict surveillance in every moment. Get it?"

That was something that I expected: after all, if they had defended Earth for as long as they said, they were bound to be more experienced and responsible than what they had showed up to now, but if it was just a façade they put on for the sake of the kid, than it made more sense.

"I agree to your terms, and I understand your concerns. I guarantee, we will not be a problem to any of you. Unless you count pranks as problems. Now, if you will excuse me, I will go wake up my friend."

She seemed to relax a little from my words, even though it was so slight, it might have been just the light playing tricks on me. Nonetheless, I walked back into the ship, to find Alex still asleep, who knows how.

I then began shaking him lightly, as this was the only way to wake him up. He slowly sat up, while rubbing his eyes and yawning. Once he managed to focus on his surroundings, he smiled at me and said in a sleepy voice:

"Mornin' Daniel. How didya sleep?"

I gave him a flat stare and said:

"I almost didn't sleep at all. I had too many things to do, but let me fill you in on the news: the 'resistance' we were supposed to destroy found us. We almost beat the crap out of each other, but managed to talk it out and they agreed to let us stay with them for a while. Of course, I don't trust them _this_ much, but I suppose we are around the same side, so let's see what that brings us. What do you say?"

He was just looking at me with a disbelieving face, which reflected also in his voice when he rebutted:

"You're saying that you met some people, which are part of the same kind that we are running away from, and you accepted to live with them. Did you go insane?"

I let a little smile slip out at his words, and answered:

"In order to go insane I should have been sane first, now should I? Still, the solution is temporary at best. Don't worry, as long as we don't cause problems we should be fine. Otherwise I can kill them easily. As I said already, I don't trust them much either, but in this world we might need some allies after all. On a side note, I preferred to avoid our actual names, and called myself Midnight. Try to keep that in mind. From now on, you're Zenith. Good with that?"

He shrugged, and nodded his head at that.

I should explain that as gamers, Alex and I ended in playing multiplayer together, so we would always choose Midnight and Zenith as usernames. I completely forgot about that, but it was just perfect, so we chose to stick with that.

We finally walked back out of the ship to see the Gems waiting for us. Once Steven took notice of us, he started walking towards Alex, an expectant smile on his face. I just let them socialize, and reached the others and said:

"I told him of what transpired in the last hours, and he's fine with our 'arrangement' too. I don't think you would be so kind as to show us the way, now would you?"

Pearl was about to say something, but Garnet beat her to it when she said:

"I'll assume you have gathered your things, because we'll have to destroy the ship once we leave. We wouldn't want humans to tinker with alien technology, now would we?" Her stony visage let loose of a little smirk as she obliviously mocked me. I wouldn't give her the satisfaction to see me ticked off by that, of course. She would have to go a very long way in order to see me snap.

"Yes, we have all we need. If you wish to destroy the ship, it is fine by me. It's not even ours after all. But if I may, I would suggest keeping some parts. Who knows when the need for such pieces would arise." Outside I was still calm, but inside I was giving her a double bird right in her face, much to my chagrin.

Garnet must have taken notice of that, since she lost her smirk. She then turned to Pearl and Amethyst and said:

"Those two are in your care for now. I'll take care of demolishing the ship, you take them home."

The two gems nodded and Garnet left towards the ship, while Amethyst walked towards Steven and Alex. Pearl stayed next to me, sending me suspicious glances when she thought I wasn't looking. The shorty trio was walking towards us, laughing about an unspecified matter. That laugh made me reflect: if Alex could befriend them, then maybe I had done the right choice. There wasn't much of a chance of me befriending them, but I didn't mind. We both knew that Alex is the one with people skills. I was the smartass loner, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

I have no idea when I started smiling, but Pearl seemed to notice it, and asked me:

"What's so funny?"

I have to say beforehand that I like to mess with people, and my favorite weapon are pranks.

"Oh, nothing much. I just thought of a joke."

"Oh really? And pray tell, what would that joke be?"

"It's a knock knock joke. You know how they work, right?"

Pearl facepalmed and sighed, before saying weakly:

"Yes, I've been targeted by many of Amethyst's jokes over the years. Hopefully yours is somewhat better."

Alex, Steven and Amethyst were close to us, and were listening in with attention. Well, I have a public, might as well give them a laugh.

"I can't say for sure if it will match your tastes, but fine. You have to start it, though."

Alex, or should I say Zenith, was grinning from ear to ear when I said the last line, having been on the same position as Pearl some time ago.

"Fine, as you wish. Knock knock."

"Who's there?" I asked, struggling to keep my face neutral.

"Uh…" Uttered Pearl in a very intelligent way.

After three seconds of silence, the sense of the joke dawned upon everyone, and laughter roared from our public, although Pearl was glaring at me, blushing, while I let my face morph in a trollish smile.

"What? I did tell you you wouldn't like it. Don't glare at me like that. But if you just like looking at me, then I suggest taking a picture."

Pearl was seething with rage at this point, but tried not to let it reflect in her voice as she said:

"If you are done with your stupid games, it is time to go. Let's move it."

And thus, with Amethyst, Zenith and Steven in tow, we began making our way towards wherever Pearl was leading us. The morning breeze that was flowing and the smell of grass that permeated the air, coupled with the chirping of birds, was shaping up to be a very nice day. And I could have been enjoying it, if I wasn't so goddamn TIRED!

Struggling to watch were I stepped, I saw the strawberry fields in the distance, and we were going right there. Confused, I fell back a bit to ask Steven:

"Just out of curiosity, but why are we going right towards the strawberry fields? In my knowledge, there's nothing of note there, except for the weapons."

Steven gave me a tired smile, and said:

"In the middle of the field is a warp pad. We use those to teleport from a place to the other."

Alright, that explained things. Although I was still a bit skeptical about how those warp pads worked, I had already witnessed some quite weird facts in my short time being alive again, so I just shut my mouth and kept moving.

Once in the middle of the field, I could see a glimmer of light in the distance. As we got closer to it, the glimmer grew into a circular pad, the color and aspect resembling the same as the tower-like structure we had infiltrated on Homeworld. The pad had a diameter of five feet, six at best. It was also tall around seven inches from the ground.

Pearl got onto the pad, and gave an impatient gesture with her hand. We all joined her on the pad, although it got a little cramped, and it ended up with me and Pearl squeezed in the middle.

Honestly, it wasn't the first time something like this ever happened to me, thus I was barely affected by that. Pearl, on the other hand, was quite miffed at that. She kept looking everywhere other than me, and was sporting a faint blush. I detect a tsundere~.

Bullshit aside, a pillar of light erupted from the pad, and I suddenly felt weightless. This went on for a good ten seconds, until I felt gravity get ahold of me again, and the light faded to reveal the interior of a house.

Said house was decorated simply enough, but with gusto. At least, that's my opinion. I'm not an expert in this stuff: I studied IT, after all!

I glanced out of the window to see that we went trough a quite big time lapse. It was late in the night, and this just reminded me of how much I was tired! Once everyone got off of the pad, I went directly to ask Steven about the foldable bed, but I didn't even get a word in, as a simple glance must have told him just how close I was to passing out right then and there. He walked towards the couch where Zenith was sitting, pulled a lever under it and unfolded the bed for me. I'd like to point out also how Zenith fell out of the couch to end on his face. I gave Steven a thankful nod and fell on the mattress. I fell asleep wile I was still in the air.

 **Daniel: " How come I'm hurt again? I was the one that gave you a beating!"**

 ***we see Daniel on his bed, covered in bandages. Alex is sitting on a couch next to him.***

 **Alex: "You chose to beat the author. He is the responsible of what happens in the story and to his characters. If he wants you hurt, you get hurt. He's like a god for you and me."**

 ***Xeno enters from the door***

 **Xeno: "I seriously hope you learned your lesson, because I'll go full out on you next time you decide to beat me up. Still, would you believe it! We really outdid ourselves with this hella long chapter, didn't we?"**

 ***Alex and Daniel nod***

 **Xeno: "I said so! But what do you readers think? If you have questions or just want to point out something, please let us know! We'll try to answer at our best, but remember…"**

 **Alex: "Flames will only refill our chimney, while trolls can go live under a bridge for all we care!"**

 **Xeno: "And having said that, see you all again in the next chapter of…"**

 **Xeno, Alex and Daniel: "Heirs of a lost world!"**

End message


	6. Chapter 5: An emergent warrior

Loading message…

 **Howdy guys and gals! Xeno here ready to bring out another chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**

 **So, our friends have met the Crystal Gems and accepted for the time being to live with them, abandoning their ship. Still, neither of them trusts them fully, so they decided to use other names for now.**

 **But now, the time has come for the team's adventures to begin once more! Though first…**

 **Steven: "Daniel, Alex and the story belong to Xeno, while me, my show and everything connected to it belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network!"**

 **Xeno: "Good job Steven, but don't forget: favorite, follow, review and enjoy!"**

Alex (Zenith) P.O.V.

When I saw Daniel falling face first into the mattress, I was worried at first, but then I remembered that he hadn't slept in around 24 hours and just let him be.

I turned around to get a face full of blanket, courtesy of Amethyst who just shrugged at me gave me a 'what?' look. I chose to avoid questions, since having dealt with Daniel's randomness in the past taught me you should avoid questioning too much stuff, least you'll lose sanity. And _that_ I didn't want.

Anyway, I threw the blanket over Daniel as best as his weird sleeping position would allow. As I turned around once more, I noticed that Amethyst and Pearl had left, leaving me alone with Garnet, who was leaning on the counter with a poker face, Steven, who was in the bathroom at the moment, and a lot of silence.

All the awkward tension was broken as Steven got out of the bathroom and straight to his bed. Still, as soon as he started snoring, the awkwardness came back with a huge boost. I wanted nothing more then to get out of there, so I turned on my heels and made a beeline for the door. As my hand touched the doorknob, Garnet broke the silence:

"Where do you think you are going?" She asked. But the tone wasn't hostile, it was somewhat more colloquial than the other times I heard her.

I turned around to see Garnet with her head turned towards me, an inquisitive frown on her face. I actually find it astounding how she can be so expressive with those huge sunglasses on.

Still, I shrugged and said as truthfully as I could:

"All this tension is killing me so I just wanted to get out for a while."

Garnet glanced at Steven, than at Daniel and stayed silent for a moment. She then turned to look back at me and responded:

"I suppose I could let you get outside, but I still want to keep an eye on you. The trust I can spare is running thin as it is."

My shoulders shagged a bit at that statement, I was hoping to get out so I could stay alone, but I guess it would still be better than staying here listening to Steven and Daniel's snoring.

I nodded to Garnet, and the two of us made our way outside. I sat on the wooden stairs, facing the ocean. I was already in deep thought, thus I almost didn't register that Garnet sat nearby.

I thought back to the last day, and remembered all the times I felt scared, alone, powerless. Daniel was always there to help: he found me when I was lost in the canyon. He guided us when I didn't have any idea where to go. He saved me from the guards, and then again helped me defeat that monster in the forest.

He is the reason I'm alive and free, or at least as free as I could get right now. If I were alone, I would have been caught up on Homeworld, and forced to fight without choice, or dead. Again.

Point is, I didn't do that much to help. Yes, I did kill the guard that was going to sneak up on him, but I was literally the least I could have done for him, since he defended me with his life while I could only watch and just at the last moment decided to help.

Then he carried me while I was crying towards somewhere safe. I helped him find the map, but I couldn't do anything with it.

He's been acting like a father for me, defending me, guiding me, and sheltering me as well as he could.

He was just doing everything for me, and I was grateful for it. I really was. But I felt horrible for bringing trouble on him like that. After all, I was the one found by the guards, I was the one that the corrupted chased. I was being the cause of most of his problems, and I couldn't just let him take care of it over and over.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts, that I didn't understand what Garnet said the first time.

I shook my head and turned back to Garnet, who was looking at me curiously. I tilted my head a bit and said:

"Sorry, what did you say? I was kinda lost in my mind."

Garnet gave a slight smile and answered:

"I asked what's on your mind. You've been staring in the horizon for almost an hour, and from what I gathered, you're not the one to stay silent for so much."

I pondered her question for a while: after all she might be helpful, yet Daniel didn't trust them fully, and I usually would listen to him about this stuff. Now that I think about it, if I talked to Daniel about my problems, he would probably say that it wasn't a problem and was happy to help me. He says this every time.

All in all, I might have a best shot at solving this if I told Garnet.

I took a deep breath, and started talking:

"It's just that I'm feeling useless as of late. I keep attracting problems, and Midnight has to bail me out of them every time. He's strong, smart, and he's a good leader, while I can't even defend myself. I keep relying on him for everything, and I feel really bad for it. I don't know… I think I'm just using him, and I want to make it up to him, but no matter what I do, it just doesn't feel like it's enough. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

Garnet sighed, before giving me a sympathetic smile and saying in a soft voice:

"I know perfectly what you're talking about. I felt like that too, but that was a long time ago. Still, I can tell you this: why would Midnight protect you if he didn't want to? From what I can tell, he tends to speak his mind, and standing to his story, he actually cares about you. You shouldn't feel bad for it if he is doing this. What you should do is make sure that he doesn't have to do it again. Learn to fight for yourself, and you will see how you will feel afterwards."

That was… actually quite inspiring. She's right, after all: Daniel helped me so much because he cares about me, and the best thing I should do, not only for him, but for both of us, is to be able to defend myself. A wild idea formed in my mind in that moment:

"Could you teach me?"

Garnet was taken aback from the question seemingly out of nowhere, but straightened up and asked:

"Teach you what exactly?"

"How to fight. I know you have much more experience than me, so could you help me?"

I gave Garnet my best impression of the puppy eyes, but it seemed she was unfazed by that.

Garnet took her sweet time thinking about it, and I was starting to lose hope by the second. After around five minutes of silence, she raised her head to me and said:

"Fine. I will teach you. But you will have to do everything I tell you. Do you think you can do this?"

The authority in her tone left no doubt: if I accepted she would have no mercy. Then again, I really didn't want to let Daniel fight all of my battles.

I gave Garnet a sharp nod and said:

"Yes. I can do this."

Seemingly pleased with that, Garnet got up and said, still in a sharp and commanding tone:

"Get up then. We start now."

I was a little taken aback, but after all I did say I would do as she said, and the sooner we begin, the sooner we end. I got up too and began following Garnet on the beach. Once we were far enough from the house, she turned to me and said:

"If you want me to teach you, I need to know what I'm dealing with. Fight me as best as you can, without your weapon. I'll hold back, don't worry about that."

She then got in a fighting position, barehanded, and waited for me.

I was a little perplexed about the no weapons part, and decided to give voice to my concerns:

"If I may, why are we fighting without weapons? I understand if I could lose it, but it just stays always here, in my gem."

Garnet gave me a knowing smirk, and responded:

"A fighter's prowess isn't in the weapon they use, but in their ability to adapt to their enemy, and their ability to exploit what they know about the enemy. If you are missing those two, then you are bound to lose. Now enough talking!"

I gave her this one. She was getting impatient, so I decided to get in a fighting position too and started closing the distance between us.

Thank God I had taken karate classes when I was younger! I wasn't anything worth mentioning, but at least I knew how to keep myself, how to dodge and some basic attacks. It still stands to mention that Daniel was in the same class, but he tends to mix karate hits with moves from some sort of fighting style he pulled out of his ass. It works, though!

As I was getting close to Garnet, I kept my eyes glued to her, looking for an opening, or something else I could use to my advantage. She was way bigger than me, so I could use my stature to my advantage. Her left hand was close to her waist, ready to throw a punch, while the right one was close to her face, in a defending position. She was standing sideways, her feet perpendicular from each other. Her position was seemingly perfect, but there had to be a way to beat her.

We started circling each other, until Garnet decided it was enough. She tried hitting me with a left hook, but I saw that coming and rolled under her arm. Then I tried to sweep her feet from behind, but she jumped and avoided my hit. I made a quick jump backwards to dodge her counter, and took a second to reassess the situation.

Her breathing was getting harsher, but seemed still fine. I was still feeling good too, but I had no idea on how to beat her. I then remembered a move Daniel showed me once, and decided to try.

I closed the distance between me and Garnet, while dropping down and readying a low kick. Garnet jumped once more, but I used the momentum from the low kick to switch the kicking leg and performed a sideways hit right in her midsection, which made her stagger a little.

I took advantage of the distraction, and leaped towards her. The moment she took notice of that was too late, and she got punched in the side of her head with all my power.

The power of the hit made her recoil a bit, but she seemed otherwise fine.

She straightened back up and nodded with the ghost of a smile on her lips:

"That was good for your first try. I was expecting worse actually, but you seem to know at least how to move around." Then her voice returned hard and cold. "Don't let this get to your head. You have still a long way to go, and you lack strength. Still, I'm impressed nonetheless. Now, we must work on filling the gap in your strength."

She motioned for me to follow her, and I complied. We moved towards a large rock endebbed in the sand. A single punch from Garnet was enough to make it crumble in a mountain of little boulders. She then turned towards me and said:

"Pick five rocks you think you can work with. I've got to get something."

With that she left to go into the house, and I started rummaging in the pile of rocks. I picked five rocks a little smaller than my head, weighing around ten to fifteen kilos each.

 **Yeah, I use yards, inches AND kilos and meters! Deal with it!**

As I was done picking stones, Garnet came back with a long rope. I was getting a bad feeling about the rope, so I decided to ask:

"What exactly are we using the rope for?"

Garnet told me:

"We're going to put those rocks on your legs, arms and back, then you'll have to train with those on."

I gave Garnet a deadpan stare and said:

"You just want to see me suffer, don't you?"

Garnet chuckled softly, before shaking her head and saying:

"No, I don't, but you will have to make some sacrifices in order to get to your goal."

I sighed, and since I didn't have anything better to say, I just shook my head and muttered:

"Let's get this over with."

So, after the rocks were secured on me, Garnet made me run around the beach for a FULL HOUR! Talk about intense training!

Once she let me stop, I fell on my ass, and didn't want to move from there until the next apocalypse. Of course Garnet had other plans for me, as she made me get up after around ten minutes to do something else.

Long story short, Garnet made me work my ass off and some more until nearly an hour until dawn, when I was about to collapse. She guided me back inside, and I fell down on the foldable bed in a Daniel-like fashion.

Before collapsing, though, I made Garnet promise that she wouldn't tell anyone about what I told her, and about our agreement.

With that out of the way, I let myself slip away from consciousness.

 **Xeno: "Have anything to say about this chapter?"**

 **Alex: "I regret nothing."**

 **Xeno: "I suppose so. Time to get Steven back to the temple, man."**

 **Alex: "Yeah, if Pearl finds out he's here"**

 ***BANG***

 ***DOOR COLLAPSES***

 **Pearl: "WHERE IS STEVEN?!"**

 **Alex: "Yeah, that would happen."**

 **Xeno: "Now, Pearl, there's no need to freak out. Steven was here, with us! He's fine see?"**

 **Steven: "Hey, Pearl."**

 **Pearl: "Who are you and why was Steven with you?!"**

 **Xeno: "I'm the author, and I needed Steven's help for the disclaimer, so…"**

 **Pearl: "What author? And what is a disclaimer?"**

 **Xeno: "Oh, boy…"**

 **Alex: "While you take care of this I'll just take Steven home."**

 **Xeno: "Yeah, sure. You do that. While I explain to Pearl, you two mind doing the outro?"**

 **Steven: "No problem!"**

 **Alex: "Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!"**

 **Steven: "This is all from us and see you again…"**

 **Alex and Steven: "In the next chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!"**

End message


	7. Chapter 6: Sins of the dead

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 **Hello everyone, Xeno here and ready with another chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**

 **Last time we delved a little more in Alex's mind, and witnessed his determination to prove his worth.**

 **Now, it is time to see what mishaps will our friends get up to this time! But first, Pearl, it's your turn!**

 **Pearl: "Do I have to do this? It seems pointless!"**

 **Xeno: "Yeah, you have to. Now get crackin'!"**

 **Pearl: "Fine. Daniel (Midnight), Alex (Zenith) and the story belong to Xeno. Steven Universe, all characters and places related belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Review, favorite, follow and enjoy the chapter. Can I go now?"**

 **Xeno: "Yes you can. Thanks for the collaboration."**

Alex's (Zenith) P.O.V.

I awoke with a sweet smell tingling my nose, and an off—time whistling filling the air. I yawned, and got in a sitting position while rubbing my eyes. The unfamiliar sight around me made me flinch, but I then remembered the events of the night before. This is definitely going to take quite some time to get used to.

I looked around me trying to spot the source of the whistling, and found Daniel, without his coat on, standing in front of a sizzling pan, flipping something inside it from time to time.

I put my feet on the floor and got up too. My everything ached, but I decided not to dwell on it for too long. Instead, I started walking towards Daniel, and as I got closer, I understood what he was doing: he cooked motherfucking pancakes.

While Daniel doesn't have an impressive amount of recipes to choose from, his pancakes were the best I ever tasted, even if he tended to avoid cooking for others. This was not the case, since there were a lot of plates next to him, around half of them with a small stack of pancakes on top.

Daniel turned to place another pancake on one of the empty plates, and saw me. His face morphed in a smile, and he said:

"Well, look who chose to wake up! Good morning, buddy. How did you sleep?" He then started pouring some mix on the pan.

I rubbed my eyes some more, and answered:

"Like a rock." Then I snickered at the inner joke.

Daniel just handed me a plate and said:

"Just get eating. I'm not dealing with your nonsensical puns." Although his words seemed harsh, he had a sarcastic tone and a smirk on his face.

"Fine, I'll shut up. Still I can't believe you made breakfast for everyone."

Daniel just shrugged and said in a nonchalant tone:

"Just because I don't trust them fully doesn't mean I can't be grateful. They did take us in after all."

He has a point. If the Crystal Gems didn't find us we might have as well been dead. I shook my head and sat to the table, enjoying my pancakes. A glance to the wall told me I had slept until a quarter to nine.

The house was eerily quiet, so I decided to inquire about that:

"Where is everyone?"

"Steven left with a friend of his almost an hour ago to who knows where, but should be back soon. Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst? Dunno."

Oh, well. No one is here except for us. What could I do… I did see a town nearby. I might as well get a look at it.

I got up and went to wash my dish. As I was done with this, I told my plan to Daniel. He just acknowledged this, but didn't give his opinion on it. I suppose I will be alone, but I'm fine with it. I do need some time alone to get my mind off of everything.

So, after making sure I was ready, I headed out. The town was quite welcoming, but I always had this nagging feeling, like someone was talking shit about me behind my back. I tried to forget it and moved on.

I concentrated instead on my surroundings. I was in front of a restaurant: the 'Fish stew pizza'. That's a pretty curious name, but from what I can see, there's a lot of people in there enjoying their cooking. I might come back when, and if, I get some money.

I just walked around aimlessly, sometimes going in circles, and decided to stop to sit down on a conveniently placed bench. Judging from the sun, I was away for around three and a half hours, but I got at least a good mental map of the place.

I supposed it was time to get back, so I got up and started trudging back. During that time, I thought back to what Garnet had explained to me last night: most gems could summon a weapon, but some of them didn't, and filled that gap with elemental powers, or functionality abilities, like a storage ability for pearls, or an enhanced intellect for technicians and the like. A smaller group of gems, though, could do both things. Such gems were mainly quartzes, with some exceptions, like rubies.

We already knew that Daniel was of the last kind, since he had both his scythe and the time control. But what about me? If we really were on the same level of potential, what could I do? I suppose only time will tell. Pun not intended.

As I turned my attention back to where I was going, and saw the beach house in the distance, so I sped up my pacing. I was almost at the steps, when the door swung open, revealing Steven and some other girl with him. The girl was slightly taller than Steven, had tan skin and black hair. Her eyes were also black, with thin round glasses circling them.

From what I could hear, Steven was complaining that she couldn't stay for lunch, as she replicated that her parents wouldn't let her. Not my problem, I suppose. But it would still be rude to not introduce myself, so I started climbing the stairs.

Steven took notice of me, and chose to introduce us himself:

"Hey, Connie! This is the other gem I told you about: Connie, meet Zenith! Zenith, meet Connie!" He said, as he sported a broad smile.

Connie seemed to fidget a little, before reaching out her hand towards me. We shook hands, and I decided to get out of there before the awkwardness became critical:

"It's nice meeting you, but I suppose you're busy, so I'll leave you alone."

With that, I walked inside, and silently congratulated myself for managing to avoid that curveball.

Inside, I found Daniel on the couch, who looked a little glum, but happy nonetheless, if that is even possible. Amethyst was minding her own business, and Pearl was cooking something, humming to herself.

I joined Daniel on the couch and asked him:

"What happened while I was out?"

Daniel gave a small smile.

 **Flashback time!**

Daniel's (Midnight) P.O.V.

Alex had left around ten minutes ago, and I was bored out of my mind. I had half an idea to just leave a note with the pancakes and go looking for Alex, but destiny had other plans: Steven and his friend Connie came in, Connie laughing about something, while Steven rubbed the back of his head. He definitely had made a gaffe, and I was about to ask about it, but Connie answered it for me:

"I can't believe that out of all people, you would forget about breakfast!"

Steven gave a small awkward laugh, before saying:

"I suppose I was just excited to spend time with you, and forgot to eat today."

A small smile came to my lips: it was like watching me and Alex from way back. I was always a bit of a loner, so Alex was my closest friend, and one of the few. Whenever I would get the chance to meet him, I would forget about anything else, and leave stuff unfinished just to get some time more.

Steven had turned around, and his eyes flew to the stacks of pancakes on the table. He immediately sat down and started gobbling them. Connie, instead was a little more concerned:

"Are you sure they're safe? These weren't here when we left."

I decided to voice my sass, and replied:

"Oh, you know, an elf with a coat was in the mood to cook today, and chose to do it for y'all"

Connie was unimpressed to say the least, and decided to fight my sass with logic.

"I'm going to assume that you made these."

But as she should learn…

"But I just said it was an elf, didn't I?"

Madness can't be beaten!

"Yes, you did. But I assumed it was just sarcasm, since you're quite fond of it, from what I heard."

"Sometimes I'm serious too, you know. A little elf came here after you left, cooked all those pancakes, and left when he was done."

Connie was struggling to keep her voice even, already.

"Fine. Let's say for a minute you are right. Why don't you tell me what was this elf called?"

I shrugged and said:

"Will."

Connie stopped massaging her temples and looked at me like I was stupid.

"Seriously? Will?"

And I, with my most serious voice said:

"Yep. Will T. Cook"

At hearing my stupid pun, Connie slammed her face on the table, while Steven exploded in a laugh.

I left the two alone before they noticed, and made my way towards the cliff above us.

Last night wasn't the most peaceful in my life, and that made me wake up way earlier than expected. I was trying to clear my mind, and found the path towards the cliff by accident.

Once I reached the top of the cliff, I sat down and let myself be flooded with memories. I tried to avoid thinking about those, but between my dreams and seeing myself and Alex in Steven and Connie, I couldn't avoid seeing them again.

I saw again my parents, my family, my old home, the day we changed country, the trips, my classmates from the different schools, everything until the day until mom died.

From that moment, it was a rewind of all my most painful memories. Before we changed country, we had to make sure my parents had a job. Dad was first, and a couple months after mom left too. I was too young to leave, so they left me with my aunt for a couple weeks. Which became months. And then almost an year. They visited, of course. But, little by little, they came less. And less. During the last months I almost forgot about them, and started calling my aunt 'mom'. I was too little to get my mistake, but then again, who was actually at fault?

They finally managed to come back, and this time they could bring me with them. I had trouble adapting at first, but I seemed to have a knack for languages, so I learned English easily. Most couldn't even understand I was a foreigner, but when they did, many would avoid me.

I was ostracized, and some actually started bullying me. I was a pacifist at the time, so I did nothing. With the time, I froze my heart, so no one could hurt me, and started acting like a jerk too. My parents, though, managed to keep a warm place inside me. I would have let gladly others get in that part of my heart too, but I couldn't bring myself to do so anymore.

Then I met Matt. He was my actual first friend, and managed to get me to come out of my shell more. I still did that rarely, but at least I did it. Unluckily, after the end of primary school, we stopped meeting, and I chose to just move on. The first year of middle school was hell, but I managed to make another friend: Lewis. His parents were from another country too, but he was born after they moved. We went along well, and I started being more easygoing, although in that period my protective instincts were starting to develop. During my second year of middle school, I met also Alex, mostly due to the fact that our parents already met, and wanted to spend time together once more. Neither of us knew how to start a discussion, so I just chose to start a videogame and gave him a controller after a minute. That did the trick, and we met again and again, for years… until the last day.

That day… I had already cried for the better part of the week for my family, but the pain wouldn't leave. I didn't mind it, since I thought that I would meet them again when I died. Seems like I was wrong. Almost everyone I knew was dead… the pain was back.

I finally allowed myself to let my feelings flow. My mental dam finally broke, and tears started falling. I was sad for all that happened before, and I was horrified for what I had done in the last days: I killed. But that wasn't the worse part: I did it with no remorse, I just… killed them. All those feelings came and squeezed my soul, and my only answer was to cry more.

I don't know how long I was there, but I felt better when I stopped. The pain wasn't leaving, but for the time being, I wanted it there. I felt like a monster for killing with no remorse, but now I had this pain to remind me that I was still myself. Even in this world, in this new body, I had a family: I had Alex. And no one can dare to hurt my family.

With this new promise in my mind, I dried up my eyes with the sleeve of my coat and walked back to the beach house.

Inside Pearl was cooking dinner, and Amethyst was on the counter, maybe planning some prank on Pearl, who merely acknowledged my entrance, before focusing back on whatever she was cooking.

I sat on the couch, and thought back on the good things I have right now: I'm still alive. I have my best friend with me. I have another chance at life. I have a home, even if it might not be forever. I had a lot of odds in my favor. Yes, there is still hope.

As I thought that, Alex entered and sat next to me.

"What happened while I was away?"

I gave a small smile, and thought that he didn't have to concern himself over me. I could deal with that myself.

"I just took some time to remember who I am."

 **Well, this was intense. I thought I didn't give much insight on who actually Daniel is, so here we have this feels bomb. For the fans of the action side of the story, don't worry: we're getting some of that too next time. For now we have this character building moment.**

 **Also, I would like to thank everyone who took their time to post a review: even a couple positive words really make my day, and I actually read them all!**

 **If you're asking where the others are, they're in the other room crying, since they read the chapter, except for Daniel and Alex, of which the former is getting hugged to death by Steven, and the latter is making some tea for everyone.**

 **Fun fact: at first this chapter was going to be centered again on Alex, but I thought up some things, and it escalated from that.**

 **Anyway, goodbye and see you in the next chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**


	8. Chapter 7: Trouble aplenty

**Hello everyone, Xeno here with another chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**

 **Last time we had a look at Daniel's past, and had him find back his hope.**

 **Now get ready, because this is the chapter that we were all waiting for (or at least I was)! So, without further ado, to you Garnet!**

 **Garnet: "Thank you Xeno. We would like to remind you that only Daniel (Midnight), Alex (Zenith) and the story belong to Xeno. Steven Universe, all characters and places related to the show belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. Remember to review, favorite, follow and overall, enjoy. Now, onto the chapter."**

 **Xeno: "I'll say. This was the smoothest intro up to date."**

 **Garnet: "What can I say? I'm just awesome like that."**

 **Edit: I found the ending of this chapter an absolute bust, so I wanted to take a good long pause in order to watch again the series and refresh myself. I managed to find a better way to end this, so here it is. Still, between this and my other story, updates will be sporadic at best. They will be at least once a month, that I will assure you.**

 **Nonetheless, onto the revised chapter!**

Daniel's (Midnight) P.O.V.

"I'm starting to think we might be able to trust these Crystal Gems. All in all, they aren't that bad, but I think they know we're still a little wary of them. It's just a hunch I'm getting, you know. Still, let's take a couple more days. If all goes well, I suppose we could tell them the truth. What do you say?"

In that moment I was walking around the port, Alex next to me, who was trying to convince me to open up to our impromptu landladies. Personally, I didn't want to tell them just yet, but Alex wouldn't let me go unless we got to some sort of agreement.

I rubbed my temples to lessen the incoming headache. We had been at it for a while, and it was getting really annoying. I sighed and proposed a pact:

"A week. If within one week they haven't given either of us any reason to doubt them, then we'll tell them. Is that fine?"

Alex nodded with a smile, and we shook hands, sealing the deal. We then started walking once more, but Alex had to break the silence again:

"I actually have a question. Out of all the possible names you could choose from, why Midnight?"

"It was simply the first that came to my mind. Plus, I'm used to be called like that from all those online matches, remember? That and other reasons."

Alex acknowledged that and kept walking. That time we both remained silent, and stayed side by side as we neared the beach. There, we found a curious sight: the Gems were on the beach, and were staring intently to what I thought was the sun. Now that I noticed it, there seemed to be two suns, one of which was slowly getting bigger.

WAIT WHAT?! Looking at it better, that wasn't a sun: it was something reflecting the light from the sun, and it was vaguely familiar.

I walked towards the gems, where Alex was already, looking at the mysterious object with a pair of binoculars. When I got close enough, I noticed the unease painted on his face. He then gave me the binoculars and said: "We're in big trouble."

I took the binoculars, and focused on the approaching object: it was another 'spacehand', but this time it was yellow. Time for me slowed down, as I understood the implications in this: Homeworld found us. They had sent a ship to capture us, or to kill us. In that moment I couldn't choose which was worse, but one thing was for certain: we didn't manage to escape.

I lost my grip, as the binoculars fell on the sand. That shouldn't have ever happened...

No. It wasn't time to be desperate. It was time to fight back. I raised my head and looked back to the Gems next to me: Alex was determined to fight as much as I was. Steven looked scared, but stood his ground. The Crystal Gems were ready to fight too, although they were giving me an inquisitive look.

I took a deep breath, and readied myself to say what probably everyone thought:

"I'll begin saying that this very probably is our fault, and for that I will apologize. Still, I won't run. We have gone way too far to give up. This time they're planning to take away our freedom. Our chance to actually live. I won't stand by that. This time we fight." Then I summoned my scythe and slammed it on the sand. "ARE YOU WITH ME?!"

Everyone voiced their support, coming together in a cacophony of cheers. When everyone quieted down, Steven chimed:

"Hang on! Why don't we use the light cannons?"

A murmur of consensus raised from the Crystal Gems, but Alex and I were utterly confused:

"Slow down: what is a light cannon?"

Steven took it upon himself to explain: "The light cannons are weapons that belonged to my mother. They work only if you say a certain thing, and they are really destructive."

At least we have a plan, I suppose.

The Gems went to get the cannons, while Steven, Alex and I stayed here to monitor the ship's progress. The Gems were here twenty minutes after, holding four white cannons, each taller than me by a good two feet and something. After disposing them in a line, they aimed for the ship and made a couple steps back. Immediately after, Steven yelled:

"If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs!"

The fuck did I just hear.

Then, the cannons came to life and their top opened like a rose: after a second of charging, a white energy beam was shot from the tip of each cannon, and impacted the ship. The only problem? They had done absolutely nothing.

Destructive my ass.

Anyway, seeing that, the Gems were freaking out, but luckily Garnet was the first to start thinking again. She and the others made a plan: the gems, Alex and I were going to evacuate the town, while Steven was going to leave and get somewhere safe. As he heard that, Steven started complaining:

"What do you mean I have to go? I can fight too!"

Both Pearl an I sighed at that, even though for different reasons. I could understand Pearl wanted to keep Steven safe, but if we were to fall no one else could have stopped them! We had to stick together! Pearl was about to scold him, but I stopped her before she could:

"Hold up, Pearl. I know you want to keep him safe, and I understand that, but if we were to fail, there would be no one to keep him safe. I think I have a better idea."

She was obviously skeptical, but signaled me to keep going nonetheless.

"Alright, so. From what I gathered, the light cannons work only with Steven, right?"

She shook her head, "No, they work with anyone who knows the password. That is also why it is so absurd."

I frowned at that, but a devious grin made its way on my face again almost immediately.

"Yes, but does Homeworld know that? I don't think so. So here's what we're going to do…"

 **time skip**

A couple hours later the town was deserted, except for us, of course, and the plan was set in place. Hopefully it was going to work.

I was on the cliff, gazing to the sky. I had no idea how this would play out, but I sure as hell would bring as many of them down with me as I could.

The ship was nearing at an astounding speed, and it wouldn't be long before they landed. I got up, and decided to head back to the others. Midway down the cliff, I bumped into Amethyst, who said:

"There you were! We were thinking you chose to bail it."

I gave her half a smile, and said:

"I just needed to get a little time alone. All things considered, this might count as my first all-out fight. Maybe also the last. "

Amethyst chuckled, and gave me a playful nudge on my shin.

"Don't worry! We'll be fine. They'll be gone before you can say Crystal Gems!"

"Crystal Gems." I looked up, and surprise, surprise! They're still there.

Amethyst laughed a little at my stupidity, and said:

"It was just a metaphor! Still… are you sure you're alright? You're looking a little glum."

I thought if I should tell her, but all in all it could only help, I guess.

"Honestly, Amethyst… I'm scared. I might look strong, but I'm still a kid. I barely know my powers, and I have barely any fighting experience."

Amethyst gave me a sympathetic look, and tried to reassure me:

"I know it seems hard, but you're not alone. We'll help you. And to be honest… I've felt the same at my first fight. We might seem confident, but we all are scared. That's why we have each other, though."

It worked, at least a little. With regained confidence, I looked back at the sky and said:

"You're right. Still, sad as it is, we must end this discussion. They're almost here."

We then joined the others, and I readied myself for the fight incoming. The ship was extremely close now, within the hundreds of yards, and approaching at an impressive rate.

There, it's slowing down! And… the palm is opening, pointing towards the sky. With a huge shockwave, the fingertips of the ship collided with the sand a dozen yards in front of us. A door opened on the middle finger of the ship, and two people walked out of it.

Now that I can see better, one of them is quite familiar. Green skin, triangle-shaped hair, gem on the forehead… Yep, it's her. Crap. She was taller though. It looked like she got some mechanical enhancements. They could very well be weapons, we should be careful.

I directed my gaze to the other gem, and found myself consumed by a sense of dread: there was no way in hell we would beat someone like that! She was around seven feet and half of muscle, with yellow skin striped orange. Her yellow gem was in place of her nose, and her spiky white hair gave her an animalistic look.

The 'Peridot' was staring at us with a cold glare, mostly me, though. The yellow gem seemed disappointed, and you could hear that in her voice:

"These are what remains of the rebellion? A servant, a runt, a freak and…" She was quite confused at seeing me and Alex, as her tone indicated. "What are you two? You don't look like Gems, and yet you're wielding Gem weapons. What is the meaning of this?"

Peridot answered in her classical obnoxious voice:

"That would be subjects Lazarus 1 and 2. While they are new Gems, their potential power is quite high, especially when together. I would suggest not underestimating either, as number 2 has quite the favoritism for underhanded methods. I do not know much about number 1, though. So expect anything."

Underhanded methods, huh? She didn't know what was coming for them.

Everyone had stopped speaking, and the two sides were just staring each other down, daring them to make the first move. Alex slowly reached in his back pocket, and retrieved a flashbang. I got Pearl to make it with some of Amethyst's stuff, as it was part of my plan.

In one quick movement, Alex threw the flashbang to our enemies' feet, and we all covered our ears, closing our eyes. A second later, a huge bang was heard, and while the invaders were distracted, I heard Steven yelling the light cannon's password. From different hidden spots, the cannons came to life and fired a salvo of laser on our enemies.

Even before the dust could disperse properly, miss big and bad rushed out to meet us, sporting a new helmet that reminded me of a hammer. We all dived out of the way, except Garnet, who tried to stop her. Too bad that she wasn't strong enough, so we had Garnet slam into the cliffside from the sheer power from that charge.

While Garnet recovered, Pearl and Amethyst rushed into the fray too. Needless to say, they didn't last much. Alex and I tried to help them, me attacking from the front, while Alex went from the back.

She was quick, I'll give her that. One second she was in front of me, and the other I slammed into Alex, both of us landing on our asses.

I heard some heavy slams, and looked around to see Garnet punching away, but all seemed for naught. Every hit was either avoided or blocked. Finally, Yellow pulled out something that looked like an electrified diapason, and stabbed Garnet with it: the result was almost instantaneous. Small yellow streaks appeared all over Garnet's body, and then she exploded in a burst of smoke, leaving behind her two gems, which fell on the sand.

Everyone was still for a moment. Then, Amethyst and Pearl attacked, visibly enraged. I moved in to help them, and all of us managed to do some damage, only for a burning pain to make itself known in my side, as I began flying away. I landed three or four meters away from the others. Pushing trough the pain, I sat up, and saw that Peridot's floating fingers were disposed as to form some sort of gun, with the middle finger smoking.

I tried to get up again, but I fell down when another shot hit me in the chest. The pain was so much that I barely managed to stay awake. I saw Pearl being electrocuted like Garnet, and a little further was Alex, laying on the ground immobile. The borders of my vision was already blackening.

My vision then was assaulted by a green flash, and the last thing I heard was:

"That was for locking me up in a closet."

' **Cause I'm back! Back! Back from the dead tonight!**

 **Sorry, had to add that one. Still, that's right! I'm back! Really, I had almost forgotten of this! Still, I had promised to finish it, so there we go!**

 **Now, I'll be honest with you. The main problem with this was that Jasper was too OOC. That was mainly because she didn't question why Steven had Rose's shield, and who Daniel was. I hope I did somewhat better this time around, as she never even saw Steven this time. You'll see why later, tough.**

 **I'll make the next update as soon as I can, but first I have to do it for my other story! Since everything has been said and done, Goodbye everyone, and see you in the next chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'!**

 **Xeno out!**


	9. Chapter 8: Thunder master

**Hello everyone! Xeno's back for the eighth chapter of 'Heirs of a lost world'! The waiting is over, ladies and gents, as the story is finally back into gear! My deepest apologies to all my beloved readers for making you believe the story was dead, but enough of that! Now, the first ark of the story: 'On the run' is coming to an end! The scene's yours, Amethyst!**

 **Amethyst: "Whassup readers? Hope you're enjoying the story now that we're back! If that's right, then follow, favorite, review, and remember that Xeno owns only Zenith, Midnight, and the story itself! Me, the Gems, Steven and all places related to Steven Universe belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network!"**

 **Xeno: "Thanks for your collaboration, now let's get to the chapter!**

 **"** **Amethyst: "Hey, I've got some time to spare. How about some poker?"** **Xeno: "I'm game. I'll call the others."**

* * *

 ** _Wait. This is important:_**

 ** _The ending of the previous chapter has changed, so if you haven't read the updated version, please do it now._**

* * *

 **Daniel (Midnight)'s P.O.V.**

 _"My head hurts so much…"_

I opened my eyes, but had to close them back when the light caused my migraine to get even worse.

Slowly, I got back my bearings. I ached all over, but I could move well enough. Opening my eyes again, I realized where I ended up: I was into one of the ship's holding cells.

I got up, and tried to listen. I was met only by the clinking of some detritus against the hull of the ship. Seeing as I seemed to be alone, I tested the forcefield of the cell. It was just like the ship we had stolen, so I was able to pass trough easily. Once outside, I flipped a mental coin, and headed left.

Hoping that the ship had the same layout as the one Alex and I had hijacked, I tried to find any of the other captives. My heart skipped a beat when my ears caught the telltale buzzing of a cage not too far away. My pace quickened, but fortunately I managed to stop in time when I heard someone speak from behind the corridor.

"C'mon girls! The cockpit is just a little further!"

The voice… it was definitely Steven. Peeking from behind the corner, I saw a glimpse of Steven, Amethyst and Pearl running by me. I started following them, their lot catching sight of me almost immediately. I noticed their relieved looks, although Pearl showed also some puzzlement, but no one said anything. All the better, as it would have probably attracted unwanted attention.

After a couple minutes of running, we stopped, and Steven pointed to my left, saying:

"Ok Midnight. Zenith is over there, you can't miss him. Once you get him, meet us to the cockpit, alright? It's just a little further."

I gave him a quick nod, and sprinted down the corridor. It didn't take much to find him, as he apparently didn't leave his cell. When I inquired, he responded with a shrug and said:

"Dunno. Maybe you're a special case, since it hurts like hell to me. Still, I think we should check also over there." He continued, pointing to a corridor to my right, "I think I heard someone cry. Might be worth investigating."

Agreeing to his idea, I let him guide me trough the corridors, doing my best to memorize the way. While we were doing that, the ship lurched, and immediately turned back on its tracks, probably Steven and the other's work. Not long after, I heard another cage not too far away.

Just as we were about to round the corner, an unfamiliar clicking echoed nearby. I peeked form around a corner, and what I saw left me speechless: it was robotic, its body a sphere around one meter long, four insect-like legs sprouting at the sides of its body and two arms coming out of the top, ending with extremely sharp-looking pincers. I could see some sort of camera in the middle of the main body. All in all, it was absolutely terrifying.

It was very probably guarding something, as it didn't look like it was going to move, except for looking around. Alex and I hid back behind the corner, and tried to come up with a plan: in the end, I would attract its attention, and in the meantime Alex would jump on it and disable the arms. With those out of the way, a simple stab in the middle should bring it down.

Alex stayed behind, and I approached the robot while it wasn't looking in my way. Once I had gotten close enough, I jumped up and tried slamming my scythe in it. Keyword being tried, as it turned around abruptly and slammed me into the wall with a huge slam.

I shook my head to regain my clarity, and immediately rolled to my left, barely avoiding the pincer that almost beheaded me. It struggled for a second to free its arm, but that was enough for me. With a well-placed slash, I hit the point where the arm connected with the main body, severing a couple wires.

It finally freed itself, but I could see some damage: its damaged arm was periodically twitching, and sparks flew out of its shoulder.

The robot lunged at me with its intact arm, and I tried to avoid it again, but it seemed it wasn't totally stupid, as the damaged arm managed to clip me hard enough to make me lose grip on my scythe. It rolled all the way to the end of the corridor. I could see my reflection on the pincer's blade, and I knew it was over for me. In a last ditch effort, I threw up my arms and tried to protect myself.

A green flash obscured my vision, and when I opened my eyes once more I saw Alex behind the slumped robot, gem glowing and random discharges in the air around him. We looked in each other's eyes for around a minute, until the dam broke, and we both started laughing and crying at the same time.

Finally getting ourselves under control once more, I had to ask:

"What the hell was that?!"

He shrugged once more, and said:

"Probably electricity, if I had to guess. As to why it was green, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it's my gem, though."

A sound theory. I got back up, and collected my scythe once more. We set off, more alert than ever. In the end, we reached the cell we heard without any problems. Inside, was a gem that was the embodiment of blue. Literally: everything about her was blue, from her hair to her skin, to her dress and to her eyes. Her gaze was switching from me to Alex intermittingly, as if she couldn't believe her own eyes.

I was getting tired of the situation, but before I could say anything, the ship shuddered, and started moving way faster than before. Turning to Alex, I saw that he was starting to panic, so I gave him a little shake, and mustered a brave face for him. That seemed to calm him down, thus I turned to the unknown gem and told her in a stern voice:

"I doubt we have much time, so I'll get you out of here. From there we must go to the cockpit. You get that?"

She was visibly flabbergasted, but nodded numbly, although I could see the contempt in her eyes. Once she was out, we all started making our way to the cockpit. It didn't take much, but the ship was increasingly gaining speed, thus more often than not we found ourselves stumbling around. Fortunately, I remembered the way well enough, so we got there in time.

The first thing I noticed was that all the Crystal Gems were there, huddled around Steven. The latter's eyes widening more than I considered possible, when he took notice of the gem next to us.

"Lapis! What are you doing here!"

The newly dubbed Lapis was about to say something, when Garnet cut her off:

"No time for that! Get over here you three, if you don't want to die!"

We did so immediately, uncaring of where we ended up. I was as close to Alex as we could get, when a pink wall erected itself around us to form a bubble. I didn't have much time to ponder it, though, as the ship shuddered once more, and we were all thrown around, promptly making me black out once more.

* * *

It was quite awhile before I could wake up completely, and even then I didn't really see anything. The fault could be connected to the mountain of debris currently covering me.

After what could be no more than ten minutes, the metal on me moved around, until I could see a faint light again. I felt myself be lifted, and looked around as best as I could with my muscles wailing in pain as they were. I noticed some white hair on my left, while on the right was a big, person-shaped, blue mass, whom I recognized as Amethyst and Lapis. They dragged me for a little while, laying me down on what I assumed was the beach, if the sand in my hair was any indication.

I saw Lapis leaving, probably to help clear up, while Amethyst stayed next to me. It took around a minute to realize that she was talking to me, and then another minute to understand what she was saying.

"Hey, are you still here? Answer me!"

I briefly nodded at her, the simple movement making me wince. It seemed that she noticed it, as her eyes softened a bit, and she told me to rest up. I nodded once more, as I didn't trust myself to be able to speak just yet. That seemed enough for her, and she left in the same direction as Lapis.

I just laid there for a while, letting myself get used to move my body trough the pain. Fortunately nothing seemed broken, just very effin' sore.

After some more time, Alex came up near me, and sat at my left. Neither said anything, and we simply enjoyed the feeling of being there for each other. Finally, I managed enough strength to sit up and look around. We had landed near Steven's house, which was fortunately still relatively intact.

Some more investigation showed that everyone else, except Steven, who was laying next to his lion, was helping clear up the pieces of the ship.

Suddenly, a huge pile of metal shuddered. I rubbed my eyes, thinking it was an hallucination, but unfortunately I was wrong, as it just shuddered more violently. In the end, the metal flew everywhere, revealing Jasper underneath. She looked pretty battered, probably from the crash, or maybe something else, for all I knew.

Still, point remained that she just wouldn't stop being a pain in the ass. Really, she just survived a goddamn SHIP falling on her head! And still, it wasn't enough to keep her down!

Newfound strength surged in my veins, allowing me to get up again. I had my eyes trained on Jasper, rage plastered all over me like a dark aura. Had I looked around, I would have noticed that I wasn't the only one feeling like that, as Alex was right next to me, his visage mirroring my own.

I was about to take a step towards her, but I felt something holding me back. I turned to look, and saw Alex gripping my arm. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he responded mouthing and unmistakable message:

 _'Together.'_

I allowed myself to smile a little, and touched his hand. In that moment, a bright light shined in our gems, spreading to our bodies almost immediately. I felt myself be pulled towards Alex, and sure enough, he was moving towards me too. All of that lasted less than ten seconds, and when the light dimmed, where Daniel and Alex were, a new being was. We were stronger, faster, smarter, and more importantly…

We were together.


	10. Chapter 9: End of the run

**Little note: when fusions say 'we', they mean their full conscious, while saying 'I' indicates only the part of consciousness that belongs to the gem speaking. E.G: Garnet.**

 **I=Garnet;**

 **We=Garnet, Ruby and Sapphire.**

 **With that said, enjoy.**

We were together… it was a good feeling.

But we were also angry.

Our four eyes opened, brown and green swirling in an endless vortex, and locked on Jasper. We were going to end that story once and for all.

With a mental nod to each other, my two parts got to work: Alex checked our physical and special powers, which were greater than what both had when put together, while Daniel devised plans and tactics for us. In the meantime, I summoned our weapon.

What came out was a pair of sickles, which looked like the top of Daniel's scythe, one blade was an ashy grey, with a forest green crest; the other one had inversed colors.

Once I was done with admiring my new sickles, I looked around me, and gave a little cough to test my voice. "I suggest you step back. This is going to be quite the hetic fight."

The other gems, except for Jasper, did as I said and moved away, giving us quite the wide berth. We started circling each other, ready for an attack. Jasper had her helmet on, and her expression was a mix of anger, wariness and a tinge of amusement. While I was examining her, she chose to speak up: "You might as well give up. Both of you are too weak to even scratch me, what do you think you can do, even if you are together?"

My right eyebrow rose a little, Jasper's arrogance annoying us quite a lot. "At your full power? Not really much, I'd wager. But after being beaten up by Garnet, and having a spaceship fall on you… I'd say we're powerful enough to give the finishing blow."

She tsked at that. "So you were waiting for me to be in my proverbial last legs, and then strike me down? Such warriors you are."

I shrugged at that, and smiled a tad. "Never said we were. Maybe you gems abide by some honor code or whatever, but we don't particularly care. Do you even know what we even are?"

She looked a bit perplexed at our question, so much that she stopped, favoring to stare at us. "What kind of question is that? You're obviously a Tsavorite and a black Spinel. Experimental as you may be, I've seen enough gems of your type to know."

Daniel's habit for playing "the point of the discussion is lava" was kicking in, and I chose to let it run free for a bit. Might as well confuse her.

"You only see us as gems, not for what we are in character. Are you aware of how project Lazarus was conducted?" taking the slight shake of her head as a no, I continued: "I don't have the full details, but in short, they fused the essence of two organic beings, two human souls, into the same gems you spoke of to 'overcharge' them, so to speak. The result are two gems with an unknown potential, who kept the same aspect, memories, personalities and allegiances from when they were still alive. You gave two of the possibly weakest sapient beings in existence the power to back up their cunning and determination."

I watched on in glee as her face morphed from confusion to shock. _'And now, to bring it home.'_

"In other words, we're weapons ready to attack anything we don't like. And guess what? We don't like you."

With that, I let loose the crapload of thunder I backed up during my speech. The attack caught Jasper by surprise, but she recovered just in time to block it hastily. Still, the hit was powerful enough to make her fly back, and slam into the cliff behind. While she was reeling, I ran full force towards her. She blocked my attack, and threw me back with a punch. I pulled myself up, and jumped away just in time to avoid Jasper falling right were I was. I called up some thunder, and released it in short bursts in order to create an electric SMG. Each shot did little, but multiplied for a couple dozens of 'em, the damage was visible.

While using one hand to keep up the barrage, I fiddled with one of my sickles, and found out that I could remove the blade on one srecreate Alex and Daniel's weapons separately. It didn't take me much to find out, as all I had to do was check Alex's theories. When my reserves got low, I threw a last shot at the ground, kicking up sand to shield myself from Jasper's eyes. Swinging Daniel's scythe in the middle of the cloud, it dispersed, showing nothing within. I looked up, just in time to catch a glimpse of Jasper and a flash of light hitting her, causing a small explosion that threw her away from me.

Turning in the direction I saw the flash came from I was greeted from the sight of a very tall gem, whom we recognized as Opal, courtesy of Steven's storytelling. We exchanged a brief nod to each other, before returning our attention to our common enemy.

Jasper had just finished getting up, and was staring both of us down with absolute rage plastered on her face. I just couldn't pass up that chance, so I taunted her:

"What is it? Having trouble keeping up with two failed experiments, a servant and a runt? I thought you were supposed to be a warrior, yet all I can see is a cloud of ego and lies!"

That set her off to the point where she threw herself at me, but in her rage left her legs open to tripping. Capitalizing on that, I ducked and rolled into her legs at the last moment. She faceplanted and skidded for a couple meters, and in that time I charged up all of the energy I had remaining into one last attack. I jumped onto Jasper's back while she was still down, and stabbed her back with my sickles, unloading around 1500 volts of power into her. It lasted only a couple seconds, and it absolutely drained me. Losing my grip, I slid right next to Jasper. I could still see her twitching a little, but I was too tired to even lift a finger.

What caught my eye was a huge hand of water rising up and grabbing Jasper. It gave a quick and powerful squeeze, crushing her completely and making her explode into a small cloud. A movement to my left caused me to look in that direction, and I was greeted by Pearl's face. I could see she was worried, but also… curious? Doubtful? Whatever, who cares. Point being, she was trying to talk to me, but I was so far gone that I couldn't make heads nor tails of her words. I was slipping away more and more, and last thing I knew, was Lapis kneeling next to me, looking... concerned.

And then, I was no more.

 **Alex (Zenith)'s P.O.V.**

When I came to, I stayed still, basking in the coziness of the bed I was in. Listening in, I could hear a heated discussion coming from what I assumed was downstairs. Straining my ears, I picked up on what they were saying.

"- I understand, they did lie to us for this whole time, but think about it. They've found themselves thrown into a completely foreign world, in a war that wasn't theirs to begin with, where anyone could be out to kill or to manipulate them. They did the only reasonable thing: hide information from who they saw as a possible enemy. It is perfectly understandable from what I see." Said Garnet, in all her wisdom.

Still, it didn't deter Pearl from screeching like a seagull. "I know that, but still! Who knows how much we don't know about them, about what they could do! They said so themselves: weapons ready to attack anything they don't like! What assures us that we won't be the next?!"

Amethyst piped up, while gnawing on something. "You know, I think you're just exaggerating. I mean, they didn't do anything yet, no? That one time Midnight, or whatever his name really is, almost attacked us was because he thought we were enemies. Plus, he forgot about us almost immediately when that corrupted appeared. And have you seen how Zenith acted then he heard you talking crap about Midnight? To me, they only fight to protect each other. So I say, as long as we don't try to hurt them, they shouldn't do anything to us."

"A sound idea." Said Garnet "What would you say, Lapis?"

"Well," drat! She was right next to me, and I didn't realize it! "I really didn't spend much time with either, as I suspect you know, but if you want answers, you should probably ask them directly. Speaking of which," she tapped my forehead. "this one is awake."

Seeing no more use to keep pretending, I opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. Daniel and I were laying on Steven's bed, again, and Lapis was sitting in a chair right next to us. Raising my eyes to meet hers I noticed a little of amusement in her look, like when you watch a kid do something silly, and by her point of view, it might as well be just that.

Garnet walked up the steps, and sat cross-legged right in front of me.

"I think you owe us an explanation."

I pulled myself up and propped myself on the headboard, saying: "I have to admit that I'm bad with lecturing others. Why don't you just ask something, and we can go from there?"

She nodded, and asked immediately: "Is Zenith your actual name?"

I shook my head. "No, my name is… was Alex. Call me whichever, I suppose. But I'm gonna keep Zenith for now. After all I've been through, I want to start off anew."

She didn't comment on that. In the meantime, Pearl and Amethyst had joined us, and Amethyst chose to ask her own question: "Hey, do you remember what happened before you became a Gem?"

The memories of those last few days of my ex-life flashed in front of my eyes for a couple seconds. I was about to break down, but steeled my nerves. _'It's no use crying. They're not here anymore, but I am, and it's no use to mourn forever. I need to move on.'_

The gems must have noticed how my expression darkened, as Amethyst piped up once more. "Y-you don't have to answer right now if you don't feel like it. I can understand."

I shook my head, and a small, bitter smile returned to me. "Don't worry. You were bound to ask, before or later. Here goes…"

And I told them everything. How everyone died, how the system collapsed, and of that last, fatidic day.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _"Look, Daniel! A falling star! Come on, make a wish!"_ _My friend followed my finger with his eyes, just in time to catch its tail before it disappeared in the horizon. He had a slight smile on, and said:_ _"Alright then. I wish we had a new chance. I wish we could be somewhere where we could actually live a life worth to be remembered. That good enough?"_ _I knew he was joking, as our situation really didn't have a way out, but still…_ _"That was alright, but I really don't think it is going to work."_ _He shrugged. "Heh. Worth a shot, right? And then, hoping a little wouldn't hurt. C'mon, It's late. Let's go to sleep."_ _While we huddled next to each other, I couldn't keep my thoughts from returning to what he said: 'hoping a little wouldn't hurt.'_ _My last thought before falling asleep was:_ 'I just wish I could have avoided everyone's death.'

 ** _End flashback_**

My tale caused different reactions from the gems: Garnet stayed quiet, pondering something; Amethyst was stunned; Lapis was silently tearing up, and Pearl… well, she was the most vocal about it:

"You really expect us to believe that? We've been on this planet for thousands upon thousands of years on this planet, and I can guarantee that this has never even been close to happening! How about you start telling us the truth for a change?"

I was about to rebuke to that, but I felt a hand place itself on my shoulder, and a shadow loomed from behind me.

"How about you shut that trap of yours for a change? He's just described what most probably was the most jarring experience either of us ever experienced, and yet all you did was blow it all off as a lie! He trusts you all enough to tell you what we've been hiding for around two weeks, why don't you return at least a tenth of that trust and help us make sense of it all, because he just told you pretty much all we know about our situation, and as you can see what we know amounts to this," he pinched the air for emphasis, "much. Not much, is it? Well, make it work, 'cause that's what we have."

Both Pearl and Daniel were locked in a staring match, while everyone else, except for Garnet, was staring at the two of them, mouths agape.

"You-" Before Pearl could start her own tirade, Garnet stepped in.

"Let's stop before this gets even worse. For now, let's all settle down and return to the actual reason this discussion began." The two settled down, but kept shooting glares at each other every now and then.

Daniel was doing his best to avoid meeting Pearl's eyes, as he probably didn't want to explode again like that. His sights fell onto Lapis, who was drying her eyes just then.

"Lapis, you okay?"

She finished with her eyes, and looked up to him, with eyes filled with… pity? Empathy?

"Don't worry about it. It's just… your tale made some bad memories resurface. We're more alike than you'd believe."

A heavy silence filled the beach house, and Amethyst chose to interrupt it. "Say, we know Zenith's real name now, so… what's yours?"

He seemed to ponder whether to answer that or not, but in the end… "Name's Daniel. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He then extended a hand towards Amethyst.

The sniggered a little at that, and shook his hand. "I'm Amethyst. Second-to-youngest member of the Crystal Gems, and biggest party animal in Beach City," she then shapeshifted into a bear, "quite literally."

That pun was what all of us needed, and the dam broke, rambunctious laughter surging from everyone. After a couple minutes of it, we managed to calm down enough to sit up again.

"Alright then," I started, "how about we continue with the QA now?"

 **Timeskip**

It ended pretty well, if I do say so myself. The next questions ranged from our past, to what happened on Homeworld, but without any omission. That answered to a good amount of their curiosity, but surprised everyone when Daniel admitted that he had met that 'Peridot' woman, and that he had stuffed her in a closet. That definitely explained why she seemed to target him first in our fight, going as far as to shoot him when downed.

"She must know more about this 'project lazarus' then she let on. All the more reason to find her." Said Garnet, and I found myself agreeing with her. The more details we had, the easier it would be to understand our new reality.

Nonetheless, having us reveal who we actually were lessened some of the tension between us and the Gems. A couple days passed, and while I usually spent my time with Steven, Connie and, to help with my sword, Pearl, Daniel was around Lapis and Amethyst a lot, although sometimes I found him having some casual discussions with Garnet, which usually end up in her lecturing him about some thing or the other, to his insistence. She didn't seem to mind, so it was good.

Amongst other things… there seemed to be quite some strife between Lapis and Pearl. Both Daniel and I tended to step back when they started to fight, but were ready to hold them back if it came to blows. The latter actually happened once or twice. Daniel keeps irritating Pearl every now and then with his sarcasm and/or sass, but they've reached some sort of compromise. Dunno what it is, but it doesn't really concern me.

So far, we managed to relax, although we still had to pitch in for the repairs to Beach city. Lucky enough, no one actually got hurt, except some scrapes here and there.

 _Now, if we could keep it that way would be great…_


End file.
